It really wasn’t until we looked at the clothes that we realized how much this entire episode was a response to an episode from last season.

Okay, let’s get right to it, because we don’t think we ever received so many messages about a hairstyle before in our lives. Yes, Joannie is wearing her hair down in the office and it wouldn’t be out of line to conclude that it represents a new day dawning in her life and a new acceptance of her role as an executive.

Except she’s worn her hair down before, both times in the first season. First, she wore it down in S1E3’s “The Marriage of Figaro:”

But it’s not uncommon for a character’s “look” to be in flux in the first several episodes of a series. We tend to consider this something of an outlier, because Joan has steadfastly worn her hair up in practically every scene since.

Except this one:

The night Bert Cooper called her into the office (away from her hookup for the night) in order to type up telegrams informing all the clients of Roger’s heart attack. This was a more deliberate costuming choice, because it demonstrated the difference between how Joan presents herself to the office, and how she presents herself when she’s out of it. Because of that, and because this latest scene is set on a Saturday in the office with Bert Cooper (hence the casualness), we tend to think the hair down is something of a light callback to that earlier scene. What a difference 8 years make, from a secretary having an affair with a partner to a financial officer preparing her company to go public.

But we have to admit, we tend to agree with those people who think her hair is just a little anachronistic here. Yes, looser styles and hair worn down was becoming the norm in the late ’60s, but this feathered, curled ‘do just doesn’t look like 1968. More 1978. We did a LOT of research into late ’60s hairstyles in order to find one that resembled this, and we couldn’t do it. There were a few with the parted bangs, like she’s sporting here. In fact, Sharon Tate favored the look at the time. But it was worn straighter and framed the face more instead of being curled away from it. We don’t spend too much time on the historical accuracy of the looks (partly because they’re almost always dead-on), but since we got so many questions about this one, we figured we’d take the time. She looks great, but she doesn’t look 1968 to us.

Her silhouette remains largely the same, although this blouse is new to us. We think this outfit works as a declarative statement regarding Joan’s status, but it’s somewhat illusory. Her hair’s not quite right and the outfit’s not really as different from her previous ones as you might think. It tends to reflect her partnership fairly well; illusory and not as revolutionary as she’d hoped.

The pink in her blouse will be echoed in several other female characters’ costumes this episode. Pete is dressed in drab green and blue, signaling the downward, adultery-fueled spiral of his own life. Bert is, of course, dressed like it’s 1920.

It’s Mother’s Day and she asked him to come, so of course she put on the showiest, most romantic peignor set she owns. Clearly, she’s thawing and ready to accept him back, even as she pretends to be considering the idea, but it’s a tease, like the outfit she’s wearing. You get a peek, Pete, and then it all gets wrapped up and whisked away under a veil of femininity.

We didn’t think the outfits in this scene were all that interesting or notable, except for Arnie, who continues a very long-standing theme of depicting unbalanced power in the Draper apartment by having one person in sleepwear while other people are dressed. Interesting that it’s Arnie who’s put in the powerless position this time, but as we’ll see later, he’s feeling pretty powerless in his job at the moment.

It’s also interesting that he’s framed by figures in blue and green. The B&G combo has recurred so frequently and consistently this season that it’s hard not to look for meaning in it. And after this episode, we’re inclined to swing back toward the idea that the combination signals adultery. Don and Marie aren’t adulterous with each other, but they are the only adulterers in the scene and Arnie’s the only cuckold.

Megan stands apart from the drama, another woman in black, which is also a recurring motif this season and one we tend to think calls back to the funerals of MLK and RFK.

This was an adorable scene and we love Peggy’s latest coat, but we couldn’t help noting the blue and green in the scene. It’s a sickness at this point, you guys. We can’t stop.

But yeah, as sweetly domestic as these apartment scenes were, they were also dealing with Peggy’s growing feelings about Ted, which means maybe we’re not so nuts to notice all the B&G.

Once again, these two are so different in their styles and trajectories that it’s hard to see them working in the long term. He gets more counter-culture every time we see him and she still looks like a good girl.

Dig that Korvette’s shopping bag. She was picking up curtains from her mother, so we suspect that’s where she got it. Korvette’s was not a discount store in the Woolworth’s sense, but it was definitely a department store with a more working-class feel to it.

These men are costumed so distinctly that you really don’t need dialogue to come to conclusions about them. Frank is clearly an artistic type (dig that neck scarf), Jim is clearly a suave, corporate type, and Ted is somewhere in the middle, dressed in a jacket and tie, but rendered in bright, modern colors; a go-getter. You can practically hear the various arguments that played out over the years among the three of them. And it’s notable that Frank is dressed in shades that call back to the other two men; blue and golden brown. And as the only one not dressed in typical executive wear, it’s clear he’s not as entrenched in this world as the other two men anymore.

A thin column of blissfully uncomplicated creamy white, surrounded by flowers on all sides. As bitchy as Marie is to everyone, we tend to think she sees the writing on the wall with the Draper marriage far more clearly than her daughter does. There’s a sense in the blocking of this scene of Megan being surrounded on all sides by people who appreciate her and people who disapprove of her.

Check that Bonwit bag. The Calvets don’t do Korvette’s, darling.

A snapshot, because it’s all such a treat for the eyes.

A woman in black. Two people in the Draper residence; one dressed, the other undressed. Repeating motifs.

Megan’s quite the clotheshorse, isn’t she? Betty had a hell of a wardrobe back in the day, but we don’t think it comes close to Megan’s. And Betty was a model.

We’re not prudish about smoking, but the idea of smoking inside a closet full of expensive clothing makes us want to reach through the screen and pull it out of her hands. “Do you know how much all this stuff is going to be worth in 40 years?”

Once again, metallics on a woman signals wealth, and Megan’s probably the wealthiest woman at the table. Marie is dark and ominous, which reflects her mood, and Peaches is a frilly drink umbrella of a woman; curled, and ruffled and mostly just plain silly-looking.

There were several callbacks, both in story and in costuming, to last season’s “The Other Woman,” which dealt with Joan’s night of prostitution, Peggy flying the SCDP coop, and Megan not being taken seriously by anyone regarding her acting dreams. So Megan’s “Valley of the Dolls”-style dress above reminds us quite a bit of her audition outfit from that episode:

We noted at the time that her audition clothing wasn’t showy enough and that she was too timid in her approach. Now scroll up. Girl definitely learned her lesson in a short amount of time.

Another snapshot of three distinctly different ways of dressing men. Pete dresses old for his age, it has to be said. Ken’s clothes reflect his sunny, care-free personality and stand in opposition to Pete’s buttoned-up, dour, conservative grey. Bob’s just cute.

Okay, no. Bob’s there to model the styles of the younger, college-grad set. He’s almost always depicted in a jacket and pants instead of a suit.

It’s interesting that the men are all wearing yellow ties, except for Pete, but we honestly don’t know if there’s anything to be gleaned from that. The real story in this scene is Joan’s dress, which is another callback to “The Other Woman.” Don unloading Herb and merging with CGC were both his attempts at reversing two things that didn’t sit well with him from that episode; “saving” Joan from prostitution and corralling Peggy back into his sphere.

So it seems to us that Joan’s dress here, where she yells at the partners about how they handled her prostitution and fallout, is a reflection of this dress:

When she stood proudly with the partners the morning after her night with Herb, thinking they would protect her from the fallout.

It also could be said that the green she’s wearing calls back to the green bathrobe she wore when Don tried to talk her out of doing it:

Either way, it’s clear to us that Don never got over his failure to save Joan and the current scene is reflecting that in Joan’s costuming. In fact, if we want to be really poetic about it; Joan sees herself as that executive who earned herself a spot in the partnership (reflecting the dress she wore the next morning); Don sees her as a whore he failed to save (reflecting the bathrobe she wore when he tried).

By the way, Kenny is not officially privy to the information about Joan sleeping with Herb (although he obviously knew). It’s notable that Joan’s so mad at Don she’s openly referring to it in front of Kenny. To be honest, everyone involved in Joan’s ascent handled it pretty badly, or at the least, very naively. Including Joan.

All right.

Blue and Green = Adultery.

We’re done pussyfooting around it.

We think the costuming here is meant to be ironic. Peggy’s indulging in a romantic fantasy while she and her boyfriend pretty much look like shit. The brilliant pink of her housecoat calls back to Trudy’s romantic peignoir – and looks pretty hilariously shabby in comparison. And of course her fantasy is in a brilliant red velvet smoking jacket to make poor Abe look all the worse to her.

We will never stop laughing at “SOMETHING… by Ralph Waldo Emerson.”

Okay, first: That bar is spectacular – and PERFECTLY of its time. This is what a million cheap lounges in the ’70s would try (and fail) to recreate.

Second: yes, they’re both in yellow shirts, signaling the coming together of two people who are otherwise dressed (and thus think) very differently. Don’s jacket also picks up some of the color of Ted’s sweater.

A word about Ted’s style. We’ve joked about his groovy sweaters and turtlenecks, and while it’s true his clothes are more showy and youthful than Don’s, it should be pointed out that he’s essentially working a Perry Como/Andy Williams kind of look. He’s a slightly more stylish middle-aged dad than Don is, but he’s definitely working a middle-aged dad look.

Another callback to Trudy’s pink peignor; this time a somewhat sad one. Ever since she kicked him out, her clothing has become much more subdued. Gone are the wild florals and cupcake skirts.

The final – and strongest – callback to “The Other Woman.” The above is what she wore when she found out Don had once again taken control of her life against her will.

This is what she wore when she tried to break that cycle:

Don is trying to reverse the actions and decisions of the two women he respects the most, against their wishes and without consulting them. As exciting as this merger is for story possibilities, we doubt it’s going to be a good thing in the long run. Like his marriage to Megan, it’s all about Don using people to construct a life around him that makes him feel better about himself, with virtually no thought as to how the people around him feel.

We feel so sorry for her right now. She didn’t even get an entire year away from him before he pulled her back in.

Is it sad that my last thought as I went to sleep last night was that there would be a Mad Style post to read today?

http://www.facebook.com/sonia.c.perez.75 Sonia Cervantes Perez

Nope, I feel the same. I’ll eat up almost anything Mad Men. But Tom & Lorenzo’s words, are the main dish!

gogobooty

I cannot believe how this site stacks up the comments so fast. I checked it the last two Wednesday mornings and the posts were not up yet. By the time I get to check again, 300+ comments!

Lisa

Joan told Pete that “Tomorrow is Mother’s Day,” which meant to me that this was a Saturday and that the three partners were meeting with the banker during off hours. So my thought was that Joan got dressed in something that looked presentable enough for the office on a weekend (Burt and Pete are wearing sweaters) but didn’t bother to put a lot of effort into her hair (either putting it up or setting it). Do we know this meeting was planned in advance? Could it have been that she received a call at home on the spur of the moment asking if she could come in and didn’t have time to do her hair? The idea that Joanie is spending her Saturdays casually dressed and with casual hair does not sound wrong to me.

http://www.tomandlorenzo.com/ Tom and Lorenzo

It doesn’t sound wrong to us either and we mentioned that it’s a Saturday in the office. But the hairstyle is still a little anachronistic.

http://twitter.com/flight_risk_ Shawn Taylor

I can’t seem to let the hair thing go. Just being a girl of a ‘certain age’ I feel pretty sure Joan has her hair done like my mama did, set weekly, whatever, no? Keep thinking all this means more than it probably does. Also digging Peaches’ rocking the whole ‘Lawrence Welk’ look. Well played.

golden_valley

Lawrence Welk look! That was perfect. The hair, the dress, the perky but not too bright personality…

http://profiles.google.com/ameliaheartsu Amelia Logan

then maybe she lets it down on saturday, and gets it done on Sunday.

http://www.tomandlorenzo.com/ Tom and Lorenzo

We considered that. It’s probably the best, most practical explanation, except the next day’s Mother’s Day, which seems like an unlikely day for her to get her hair done. Then again, she’s a busy, single mom so maybe she would.

VictoriaDiNardo

I like to imagine she has a standing appointment on Saturday afternoon, and so went there after the meeting. And then sleeps on her satin pillowcase all week to keep her “set”!

Chris

I have been noticing the hair in general has been off this season (IMHO) as the women’s hair should be higher and more “lacquered” looking. Few of the women’s hair looks “stiff” enough or high enough compared to magazines/newspapers of the period. Also Abe looks far more 1970’s Frank Zappa than late 60’s to me. Even people like the Beatles didn’t have that kind of hairdo yet or the young protesters in the old news photos.

VictoriaDiNardo

I think Peggy’s hair is the most accurate in general, all through the series. The awful fifties Mamie bangs (sported those through my childhood) , these set hairdos she has now. I can just see the bobby pins holding the not-quite side pin-curls while she’s getting dressed. There should be more roller- bumps, however!

C. C. Winslow

I had that exact hairstyle in my 5th grade school photo. Thanks, Mom.

Chris

Yes Peggy is bringing the Lynda Bird Johnson realness. She is the only one with some real period accurate height to her hair- apart from background players. I’ve noticed the secretaries at the two agencies are always more hair authentic.

not_Bridget

The show has never given us enough lacquered beehive hair; however, that’s really an ugly look. And those old style hairsprays have probably been banned to save the ozone layer.

I was there & Abe seems quite period correct. (Heh–Googling “1968 Men’s hair style” brings up a bunch of images from Mad Men!)

Chris

I was going by pictures of protesters, Life magazine etc. of the time for ideas of men’s hair. Don’t you love Google images? As I wasn’t born until the end of that year I will bow to your superior recollection for having been there!

Glammie

Check out Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young at Woodstock and you see it. I think the hair’s sort of split–there’s the stiff, high stuff, but also the totally straight parted-in-the-middle hair, which we’re not seeing at all. (Not surprising, given the characters.) I kind of expect to see it on Sally.

Gatto Nero

Yes — they lack that Dusty Springfield, whole can of Aqua Net look.

formerlyAnon

That’s what I was thinking – most women tried to get their standing hair appointments on Thursday, Friday or Saturday – single girls “needed” to be done before Friday night, working girls sometimes liked Saturday since it still looked fresh for Monday, etc. etc. HOWever: Joanie’s had a little bit more money for a while now, she *might* have a hairdresser who’d do her hair on Sundays as a private client/favor – though not at the salon, more likely at her home or Joan’s.

http://www.GiftedCollector.com/ The Gifted Collector

Wrapped in toilet paper and covered with a hair net.

http://twitter.com/flight_risk_ Shawn Taylor

But then Sunday and she shows up to work Monday having not yet had an appointment? She’s a resourceful girl so she could easily pull it off herself but I keep thinking there’s something here. I’m a bit younger than this but can’t remember women in the early 70s so much as washing their own hair or ‘letting down’ being part of the process. I’m entirely too invested here, avoiding my actual life tasks here. Thanks for indulging me.

Joy

I bet her Mom does her hair for her sometimes. I’m also sure she has a hairdryer she can sit under at home. We had one in my house growing up to do our own roller sets.

Jackie4g

Just an FYI, if you don’t mind. Beauty parlors were not open on Sundays in 1968, unless you booked in advance for a wedding. Retail in general, in the NY Metro area, did not start opening on Sundays until the 1970s, and in Bergen County, NJ, a bedroom community for MYC, they still have the Blue Laws, and do not do retail business on Sundays. Local Governement keeps asking, and the citizens keep voting it down.

http://www.tomandlorenzo.com/ Tom and Lorenzo

There goes that theory.

Lisa

Again, could this have been an impromptu Saturday meeting? Maybe Joan was planning to go to the hairdresser on Saturday but had to cancel the appointment to come into the office instead. I would imagine that Saturday actually was the most logical day for her to get her hair done, and it would explain why she might have washed it and not set it the night before.

http://www.tomandlorenzo.com/ Tom and Lorenzo

No, this would have to have been a set meeting, designed to happen when no one else was in the office.

Besides, I think we’re all overthinking it a bit too much. In the end, the show went for a casual Saturday look that doesn’t quite read as period-correct to us.

http://twitter.com/creeple Alice

Great point! There’s still vaguely unofficial Blue Laws here in central PA – a lot of stores are run by Mennonites in this area, so no Sunday hours. Almost no beauty parlors are open around here, either. There’s also a lot of truncated Sunday hours in stores.

Girl_With_a_Pearl

Except that there were still Sunday blue laws back then, so regular beauty parlors would have been closed in New York on a Sunday. However, Joan is incredibly resourceful as we all know and would know someone who could come to her home to do her hair.

formerlyAnon

Oh please. If we only commented when we had something unique and special to say, *some* of us, (she said looking in a mirror), would have to find another web site upon which to waste an hour+ per day.

H2olovngrl

Pshaw! double comments happen all the time! Dont sweat it.

DonnaD

yeah an off-hours look- plus she had a tiny floral print shirt- like she
was ‘in bloom’ again in a spring time way, Bert had an off-hours look
too- Pete was a combo half-relaxed/half business.but I thought the
‘let-your-hair-down’ adjective was what was being said- Joan is feeling
‘relaxed and good’ about her future- so she ‘let her hair down’ about it
and that was what they were trying to convey–but its veeeeeeeeery
1970’s looking.

Gatto Nero

But salons are usually closed on Sunday — aren’t they?

Not applicable

oooh this is so interesting! my grandmother (who would be about 10 years older than Joan) got her hair done every SATURDAY. That way it looked good for church on Sunday. Now by the following Saturday morning, she would look pretty rough. Even after a mid week-home set. I have 2 theories. 1. Joan is growing her hair out 2. she missed her sat. appt because she was working and thus, this is more her natural hair…in bad need of a wash & set…? huh? maybe?

Gatto Nero

Joan’s hair was very well coifed. But the style was inappropriate for 1968. Those Farrah flips didn’t appear until well into the ’70s.

MasterandServant

I don’t know, while it is flipped a little, it is reading a bit Brigitte Bardot to me….like lightly curled? Anyway, my mom at 17 in 1968 (and working weekends at Lerner’s in Midtown) had short, Twiggy like hair. Almost slicked down but not quite- definitely no height.

Glammie

You’re right about the hair. There was some layering happening–like the others mention, Fonda’s Klute shag was big a couple of years later, but feathering isn’t for another ten years. Farrah Fawcett made a huge impact. You really didn’t see that whole flipback thing at all until then.

Oh, by the way, it’s totally period (as in it reminds me of my clothes from that time), but there’s a lot of red,white and blue happening. This round it’s the stewardess and Bert’s vest. But it’s been going on all season. Anyone have any thoughts, now that blue-green is resolved?

http://twitter.com/Rowsella315 Kathy G

Your right. Back then if my mom was called in to do something and hadn’t set her hair, she would have pinned a fall in back and worn a scarf across the top covering where the fall starts. That was a “look”.

sarahjane1912

Hair down is fine. Farrah hair is not. Not for 1968 at any rate.

ballerinawithagun

Exactly! Nobody had that layering around the face quite yet. I went to the salon my sophomore year in high school, 1971, and asked for a “gypsy” shag. I had to explain in great detail that I wanted layers around my face. The beautician was shocked!

I’m also inclined to think that her hair isn’t as “intentional” here. Something I’ve noticed about pictures of my grandma on camping trips, my mom when she had a brand new baby, etc. is that sometimes the styles do look anachronistic to my eye since I know what came before/what was yet to come. But really it was just the their hair was accidentally psychic in it’s more natural state when they didn’t have as much time or inclination to beat it into submission.

Anyway, the Joanie’s Angels looks she’s sporting here threw me for a second, but I wonder if it’s actually Janie Bryant’s way of shooting for a different kind of authenticity; I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if this is just what Christina Hendrick’s hair does when it’s the end of the day/week when she’s had her hair up and set and then she suddenly needed to brush it out and touch it up a bit to make herself presentable. I know mine doesn’t always go the direction I want it to. And I recognize those couple of end pieces she pissed with the iron/blowdryer all too well.

Or maybe I put too much thought into it and it’s really just a mistake.

http://www.tomandlorenzo.com/ Tom and Lorenzo

I definitely think that, if nothing else, it’s a deliberate attempt to subvert expectations of the time or make a wink to the future, like the “Peaches and Herb” joke.

Zaftiguana

That’s definitely true. And maybe it’s also a way of showing, “Hey, that stuff all came from somewhere before people knew it would be big.” Well, not so much the “Peaches and Herb” thing, which is clearly just them taking the piss. Which I love.

not_Bridget

Glad for noticing that Peaches had a frou-frou drink to match her frou-frou outfit & hair. And I was glad she was pretty–her dreadful husband didn’t just want Joan because she was beautiful. He wanted to “have” a bright, competent woman. (At least he’s gone now.)

sarahjane1912

The ‘Peaches and Herb’ joke was actually a wink to the current [in MM terms] since the duo DID form in 1966. This was well before ‘Reunited’ of course, so I get your point. 😉

H2olovngrl

Ala Alice Cooper? I still chuckle.

formerlyAnon

“when they didn’t have as much time or inclination to beat it into submission.”

God how I wish I didn’t totally relate to thinking of hair maintenance in those terms.

Zaftiguana

Right? I think I also relate to it in this way because of the night I spent hours on my hair for a friend’s wedding, aiming for some Beyoncesque sultry, loosely-curled fullness, but instead did the final flip back to the mirror to see that I’d ended up looking exactly like Dusty Motherfucking Springfield. For real.

formerlyAnon

I just chuckled out loud in the middle of someone else’s conference presentation. Trying to keep a completely straight face now, and pretend I’m typing painstaking notes.

Not fooling anyone, though.

http://twitter.com/PourSumShugOnMe Shug Knight

Heard. That. I can’t fucking curl my hair to save my life. My attempts at being Veronica Lake would be hilarious if they weren’t such huge wasted investments of time.

vandeventer

Well since she is obviously wearing a wig, and wig’s were definitely in style in the 60’s, why didn’t they just use a wig that fit the era? I would think a wig with a 60’s flip, or even something more relaxed, would be easy enough to find.

AudreysMom

Joan’s shirt and loose hair and Burt’s sweater were good indicators that it wasn’t a work day as usual. Since poor Burt gets little attention on the boards, I’ll just point out that my thought seeing Robert Morse in that argyle sweater vest was Rudy Vallee. Makes a good connection. Robert Morse as Burt dressed like the 1920s = Rudy Vallee in raccoon coat = How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying = Robert Morse.

makeityourself

“Grand Old Ivy . . . “

lobsterlen

i don’t know what to make of this my husband was fascinated by the peignor set and his interested didn’t seem to be entirely sexual.

Kathleen Tripodi

Does he also pretend to be Ann Margaret while singing about diet soda? 😉

lobsterlen

Thank you for the laugh.

Angela_the_Librarian

I saw Bye Bye Birdie on TCM a few months back and every time they sang the title song I imagined the “Bye Bye Sugar, Hello Patio” song instead

Not applicable

me too! i can’t even watch it- that song (both Patio and Bye Bye birdie) make me crazy–

Angela_the_Librarian

It was the first time I’ve seen the movie version. My high school’s staging of it was pretty entertaining, but overall it is a pretty dreadful musical (songs are mostly annoying, the story alternates between weak and bizarre). TLo have a wonderful Musical Monday entry about it if you haven’t read it yet

http://twitter.com/creeple Alice

OMG, it brings back a horrible high school memory where we had to sing a Bye Bye Birdie medley in chorus. It was dreadful, and I especially hated the telephone song because the “HI, ALICE” line was sung by this girl who couldn’t carry a tune, so it was way off-key. It was almost as bad as “Bye-bye Sthuuuugaaaar!”

Zaftiguana

Perfection.

http://profiles.google.com/ameliaheartsu Amelia Logan

It was very fabulous, and I normally think these kinds of things are ridiculous.

Gatto Nero

The color was stunning on her.

Gatto Nero

Maybe his mother had one like that …

Spicytomato1

Or his sister may have had a Barbie doll with a set like that. I had one from that era that looked remarkably like Trudy’s except in bright yellow. It was one of the few “purchased” Barbie outfits I had, the rest were (exquisitely) made by my mom. But I used to scrutinize the little catalogs of Barbie fashions with very intense longing.

formerlyAnon

It didn’t matter how wonderful the homemade Barbie clothes were – the purchased ones ALWAYS had at least one tiny little plastic accessory (purse, barrette, matching shoes) that was impossible to make at home and rendered the purchased sets oooooh sooooo enviable. I was SUCH an ungrateful little shit as a child, when I think about all my mother did for me.

http://40schmorty.com/ Jaye Brown

Mine thanked me for not ever wearing one…

H2olovngrl

Sounds like he needs to see the entire Trudy Campbell/ Kitty Romano bedroom collection. Trudy’s pregnancy sleepwear is especially awesome.

Even more pathetic, I was analyzing yesterday’s posts: hmmm…if they just concentrate on the Met Gala they won’t have to spend as much time deciding what to post and can get the Mad Style post out sooner OR is there so much at the Gala that they’ll be delayed …?

TLo – you’ve created MadJunkies!

ETA: And thank you for that! Your work on these is remarkable!

Glammie

What amazed me is that TLo were getting up the Met posts *and* taking time to comment deep down in the Mad Men thread. I was thinking, “wow, they’re actually reading those 800-plus posts.” No wonder the discussion threads here tend to be so good. I’ve just about given up reading any commentary on Salon.

(Thanks guys!)

FB

I’m glad you felt as sorry for Pegs as I did (and do). Also, still in awe of your ‘blue and green = adultery’ and ‘metallic means wealth’ and ‘red = prostitution’. I wouldn’t have dreamt it up, TLo, and I want to join the chorus of people telling you you’re brilliant. If I may, of course.
I’m trying to apply your lessons to Game of Thrones, since you’re too busy to do it, but I am not yet getting any further than ‘Sansa Stark in a grey dress’ = Sansa is key to the North (and possibly depressed).

Sobaika

Re: Sansa – there’s a lot to be said about her hair. The first season she modeled her hair after the women in King’s Landing, second season she fell back to Northern styles, and then switched to mimic Margery’s hair. The show went so far as to comment on it.

http://www.tomandlorenzo.com/ Tom and Lorenzo

We’ll just say this:

Note how Margaery’s more formal costuming often makes her look like a vase or a vessel.

Also: google Katharine Hepburn in The Lion in Winter if you want to see who Olenna’s clearly modeled on.

King’s Landing women dress like priestesses and share quite a few of the same design elements as KL men’s clothing. See: any scene with Tywin and Cersei or Sansa and Littlefinger. Their clothing is often remarkably similar in a lot of ways. Discuss.

And finally, you can spend hours looking for roses, wolves, dragons, lions and fish in the clothing of various families.

Sobaika

There goes my afternoon

Chris

And Dragonflies on Sansa as she is romantic and loves the tale about the King or Prince of the Dragonflies who gave up his throne for love.

http://twitter.com/KathleenMKeenan Kathleen Keenan

Damn, your point about Olenna and The Lion in Winter! This is why you two are the best.

http://www.facebook.com/candice.booth.79 Candice Booth

This!!! Thanks for just a little of your incredible insight.

bxbourgie

Bless you TLo. My life is now complete. Off to Google The Lion in Winter.

http://www.tomandlorenzo.com/ Tom and Lorenzo

Oh, you are in for a TREAT. If you can find it on Netflix or even YouTube, watch it. Some of the best, bitchiest lines of Hepburn’s career – and you can clearly see Diana Rigg’s version of Olenna in the performance.

MilaXX

What did you think of her on Doctor Who?

http://www.tomandlorenzo.com/ Tom and Lorenzo

I thought she was awesome. I’m really kind of bored and disappointed with Who at the moment, which is why there have been no reviews. They’d just be whiny and repetitive.

MilaXX

Yes this season is not very good, but I thought this ep was.

not_Bridget

Her daughter on Doctor Who was played by her real-life daughter. Who had a very different role in “The Bletchley Circle”–just finished on PBS. Last week, we saw a featurette from the creative crew on the show–who indicated that, yes, those folks do pay attention to every little detail….

MilaXX

Yes I had read that somewhere.

http://twitter.com/TMamBo Therese Bohn

I lurve The Lion in Winter – I practically have every scene memorized.

sarahjane1912

LOVE Diana Rigg. Sorry to digress, but you guys must watch ‘Mother Love’ if you haven’t already. I think there’s a dodgy copy of it on youtube. it’s dated, but Diana is fantabulous in it.

http://twitter.com/creeple Alice

OH YEAH! I won’t eat marzipan now because that miniseries scared me off it so much. I saw it when I was in grade school. She was terrifying.

sarahjane1912

*Chuckles* I never liked marzipan but when I saw ‘Mother Love’ I knew why!

AViewer44

Yes, it is totally fantabulous–and so is she! It’s in nine parts on YouTube. (I saw this in the UK when it originally aired, and it’s a mystery to me why it’s not on Netflix–was delighted to find it on YouTube!)

AViewer44

That was in response to the Mother Love post, bTW.

sarahjane1912

I saw it in Australia when it originally appeared as a mini-series! Loved it so much I bought the book. Tee hee. Glad to ‘meet’ some fellow fans.

desertwind

Funny, I just watched Mother Love last night! (only available as bad YouTube transfer made from old Beta tape recorded off TV when shown on PBS 20 years ago) I suppose there must be some money/copyright-issue that’s prevented it from being rebroadcast or released on DVD.

The original showing had haunted me for years and I was so happy to finally find it.

HIGHLY recommend even the crappy YouTube viewing. The version in 10-minute segments is best.

Gatto Nero

Briliant movie. See it.

formerlyAnon

Don’t just google it. Watch it when you can. It’s very much “of its time” in the approach to a historically-based plot, and it is just an effing glorious opportunity to wallow in that style of films. (At least, that’s my non-film-scholar take.)

Zaftiguana

Oh my god, you’re going to die. You will seriously not be able to stop quoting Hepburn’s dialog for weeks. “I’d hang you from the nipples, but you’d shock the children.” “I wonder…do you ever wonder…if I slept with your father?”

reebism

Thank you so much, TLo! I’ve been wondering why they’re dressing Olenna like that for five weeks!

not_Bridget

There has already been a remake of “The Lion In Winter”–not that it was needed. If anybody does it again, I vote for Charles Dance & Diana Rigg in the lead roles….

Jessi03

Yeaaaay! Thank you! Just this little snippet of TLo style on GoT made my morning. After it was already made by Mad Style, of course. Care to talk about how armor-ed up Cersei’s gotten since the Battle of the Blackwater?

jilly_d

Oh, you guys are such a tease!!! Spot on with the vase/vessel. I hadn’t noticed that particular effect, but now it’s all I’ll see.

Glammie

And Margery’s kind of the flower of *Highgarden*, right? Isn’t their emblem a rose? Lannisters seem to consistently have a touch of gold.

I don’t get HBO, but I saw the first season and it seems to be that most of the Starks wear a lot of fur, except for Sansa and Caitlin–Caitlin’s really a Tully, while Sansa is the Stark child whose direwolf is dead. Poor Sansa, so literally cut off from her Stark inheritance.

Glammie

Ummm, maybe an end-of-season one-or-two post costume commentary on GoT–and we all sign in blood not to put out book spoilers in the comment section?

Honestly, wouldn’t ask if you hadn’t put out such a great teaser.

http://twitter.com/creeple Alice

Lion In Winter is a GREAT movie! Ingenious. You guys are the kings of connections in the fashion world. I love it.

http://twitter.com/PhDKnitter marlie

Game of Thrones style posts would be AH-MAZING. You know, in between all of the other 4,000 things you’re doing.

FB

Seven blessings on you, Ser Tom and Ser Lorenzo!

bxbourgie

I’d love to see some GoT Style posts, but I know T and Lo are like “hells naw!” We’re on our own with that series.

not_Bridget

Handling that giant show would be a giant project & TLo have this strange desire to have “lives.” So we need to use the skills they’ve taught us!

reebism

You know, I see that visually Sansa’s in grey=North, but I also feel like Sansa is wearing much dowdier clothing that Margaery, which speaks to her naivety/lack of polish compared to the older girl. She might imitate Margaery (or Cersei) in her dressing styles, but she’s not there yet. Also, she’s literally covered up together with her secrets!

Sobaika

At this point Cersei is responsible for overseeing Sansa’s clothing, household, etc. There’s a reason why Sansa became increasingly shlubbier-looking as her father’s died, she ‘lost’ Joffrey as a marriage prospect, and her status developed into that of a ward/hostage.

reebism

Yeah, I wasn’t sure if that had been brought up in the TV show or was just in the books, as in the books she toasts most of her wardrobe by accident and at this point is going around wearing too-small things until Cersei buys her a new dress.

I don’t see her clothing as “schlubby” per se, as she’s still very put-together and neat, just more visually tied to the North and drastically less fashionable. I wonder if her clothing choices will change with upcoming plot developments?

Also, I want Daenerys’ blue dress. I would prefer it to have a back, as I (unlike Dany) need a bra, but I want it so badly.

Jessi03

I love how Daenerys ties accessories together from everywhere she’s lived. The belt she was wearing when she first arrived in Slaver’s Bay is from Qarth, and of course the pants are Dothraki-influenced.

not_Bridget

Sansa is still in some danger from Joffrey, at least until she marries. So she probably wants to hide her assets. (And Cersei, who holds the purse strings, is probably glad this younger, beautiful woman is not competing with her. She certainly doesn’t care for Margaery’s look.)

http://www.facebook.com/lindsay.lyon.94 Lindsay Lyon

Yes, I always saw Sansa’s wardrobe as a deliberate attempt to hide her womanliness, much like her flailing when she started menstruating. She’s been subjected to a lot of unwelcome sexual attention since she came to King’s Landing, and I think her drab colors and styles are her only avenue of disguise.

I doubt marriage would protect her from Joffrey, though. He seems like the type who would enjoy exercising his powers as king.

http://twitter.com/PhDKnitter marlie

I also think that when she started to realize what a psychopath Joffrey was, and she was passed over for Margaery, she wasn’t interested in trying to impress him or Cersei any longer.

Chris

Sansa is reverting more to the “Northern” style of dress and color scheme. When she first arrived she was imitating Cersei’s hair and style of dress. She has returned more to her “roots” now with a mixture of Margaery’s influence as well. Cersei has started wearing more and more “armor” like jewelry as she feels attacked and outnumbered in King’s Landing.

reebism

And Margaery’s clothing is exactly as unguarded as she seems to come across!

Jessi03

I noticed that Cersei’s been wearing the armor since Battle of the Blackwater. I figured she’s never felt truly safe since that night.

Great points! I noticed Sansa’s dowdy clothing too and it surprised me a little (not having read the books). I feel she has regressed from the end of season 2. She was coming into her own a with Cersei and even Joffrey (“My brother always goes where the fighting is thickest, and he is only a pretender.”) and was wise enough not to admit to Littlefinger what she was thinking. But now here she is, more naïve than before, spilling her secrets to Littlefinger, Oleanna and Margaery with very little prompting. Maybe she’s given up on the game of thrones and her clothing reflects that? ( Just thinking out loud… I won’t go on here because I might spoil things for newbies!)

swiss_miss

Ok, this is kind of cheating, but I’ve read an interview or two with the costume designer and she mentioned a few interesting things (If you don’t want to read what she has to say but find those things out yourself, stop reading!)

The young women start to dress more like Margaery and less like Cersei, which is the logical step if there’s a new (and young and pretty) princess in town, that there’s not a lot of colour in the North and more furs and wolls, but in Kings landing, with the port and trade, there is more colour & expensive fabrics, that Danaeris kind of takes different influences from the different experiences she has. She has her own style now which shows, that she now is independent. She wore blue in slavers buy since it is a prized colour in Dothraki culture, so if she wears blue it means that she has that connection to him and the Dothrakis. It will be interesting if she stops wearing blue at a point (probably only in later seasons). She also wears a dress that is similar to the slaves dresses as a sign of solidarity (I actually spotted that before reading it and was very proud!). Joffreys look is supposed to be a little bit more extreme and out there. The clothes of the reeds (the little boy from Love Actually and his sister) are supposed to look kind of organic& grown since they are a little bit strange.

FB

Thank you so much, swiss_miss, reebism, Jessie and Chris! It’s fantastic to know all this! I’m going to the GoT exhibition in Amsterdam next Saturday and feel great knowing exactly what to look for.

Chase

Could Joan’s emerald green dress in the scene where she confronts Don also refer to the cheap emerald necklace the Jaguar man gave her the night they had sex? Just a thought.

http://www.facebook.com/megan.kennedy.395 Megan Kennedy

I had the exact same thought.

Christine

Damn, I had hoped it was an expensive emerald necklace, that she could sell. However, Herb isn’t the kind of man to give great jewels, is he? And I know that the idea of Joan getting an expensive emerald isn’t going to work with the tawdryness (is that a word?) of the whole situation. My mom would have been a bit younger than Joan in 1968 but when she was a nurse, it was somewhat “expected” the doctors could ‘sleep” with the nurses, married or not, either of them. And that the nurses would just accept it.

Chaiaiai

God, that’s depressing. I’ll say it again, Mad Men is a feminist work because it leads to all these conversations and excavations of how things actually were.

Aurumgirl

Are. Still. The expectations are still there, because any legalities barring them are still obtainable only with money, and even then, not often enforced. To me I’m seeing how far things still have to go, but I’m grateful the never-ending sexism in every sphere of women’s lives is being given such a prominent and clear spotlighting with this series. So clear even the men watching it can see it.

Then again, Herb has offered Joan a brand-new Jaguar, he’s not that cheap and he must be aware that money is his most desirable feature, if not the only one. And Peaches is not very bright, so she wouldn’t even notice that her husband is giving away cars to have some fun in the city.

filmcricket

He said she could have a Jaguar “for as long as she wanted it.” Technically that’s giving her one, but he very specifically did not say he *would* give her one.

http://www.facebook.com/lisa.mcada Lisa Huntsman McAda

Yes, I got the idea from that exchange that she could have the Jaguar “as long as” she kept sleeping with him. I never took it as a straight-out “gift”.

http://twitter.com/creeple Alice

I wonder if that’s really the underlying reason why my grandmother was told to stop working when my grandfather returned from the war. She had a few stories about working in the 30s and 40s in the hospital (although I highly doubt she would have done anything wrong), and I wonder how many of her coworkers dealt with that kind of situation. I bet all the nurses encountered that kind of sexual harassment where she worked. If that’s the case, I could see why a many working women would have returned to being housewives after WW2 ended – not having to deal with horny men.

Aurumgirl

There are all kinds of commercials and print articles and magazine ads targeting women who’d worked in the shipbuilding/munitions/manufacturing jobs during the war, telling them to step aside and go back to being housewives and “good” mothers (seriously, the number of articles that link delinquency back to the failure of women who insisted on keeping the high paid “men’s” jobs they were all encouraged to take on during the war is staggering. Women who wanted to keep their welding jobs or their higher paying jobs in factories were shamed in huge campaigns to get back in the kitchen). Many women from that era were very frustrated by the way the world shut itself off to them with vague promises of “new prosperity” after the war. I don’t think the sexism in the work force was ever not present (just a little less common when mostly women made up the North American work force during WWII), so I don’t see it as the thing that drove women back to the home and the Pink Ghetto of the work world (the typical “women’s jobs”–teaching kids, being moms and housewives, and being nurses). Not when there was so much money spent on propaganda to get them home again.

http://twitter.com/creeple Alice

That’s a fantastic point. And you’re right! There definitely was a lot of role confusion when men returned from the war. The pressure to get back into the homes must have been immense all over – I’m sure they felt obligated to give up their work autonomy to resume their “rightful roles.” And I’d guess reinstating returning soldiers played a big part, too. You see it a lot of that in war propaganda films – women being happy that they no longer “had” to work. In earlier seasons, Joan was of that ilk; it was weird for women to want to be career girls. Where Peggy was really excited that she was the first female copywriter since WW2, Joan thought she was trying to advance so she could get a husband, and it never occurred to her that Peggy would want to work for work’s sake. I guess I wondered how much of that notion that women expected to nest was genuine, how much of it was fabricated, and how much of it was secretly unwanted. My other grandmother worked in a store, and I know she was seen as a total freak for having a job during the 50s. Looking back currently, I’m proud of both my grandmothers for working, but it couldn’t have been easy for either in their times. I don’t think the one ever got over having to give up her work that she’d trained so hard to do. She still helped out neighbors at home as a nurse here and there, but before she died she voiced regret in having to leave, and I felt sad for her.

Aurumgirl

In my work I talk to many women who are in their 80’s now who all experienced being “Rosie the Riveter”. In the area where I live, many became shipbuilders or extremely well skilled in the trades (carpentry, electrical work, welding, for example). Some had opportunities to teach in their fields–I have a couple of Mathematics professors in this group who would never have been hired to teach at that level had the men not been leaving for the war. (It really is quite an eye-opener to talk to the women who’ve been around in my neighbourhood–very few in that age group “just wanted to marry and have kids”, and by the way, all of them tell me they all had to work during marriage, as well. If no one hired them because they were married, they opened their own businesses. Everybody needs money even when they’re female). The most memorable experience they’ve told me about is the extreme frustration after the war. If they didn’t want to leave their jobs, they were fired. Simple as that. The jobs they’d done, and the skills they’d picked up, didn’t matter anymore. Some even suggested that the whole veil of secrecy and “glamour” that surround these jobs was all for show…anyone could learn how to do the trades if they were inclined to learn how, and anyone could get good at it. It’s all a very sad chapter of our history that gets swept under the carpet–most young women today don’t even know this stuff took place.

not_Bridget

PBS just finished with “The Bletchley Cirlcle.” Set in 1952, it told the story of four women who had worked at Bletchley Park, helping win the war by breaking Nazi codes. They signed the Official Secrets Act & could tell nobody about their work.

Then the war ended, their jobs ended–and for many, many years, they could still tell nobody about their work. They just did “something clerical.” The ladies in the show use their talents to track down a serial killer…..

http://twitter.com/creeple Alice

That’s really fascinating! Here’s a counterpoint to that, for people in the same age group. In the rural area where I live, generations of women and men have worked together on small farms, and had equal billing in responsibilities; more egalitarian, out of a need to survive. Marriage was something people automatically did (usually to someone in their own home town, or sometimes a valley over), because they simply needed partners to keep the farms going. Even after the War, the men just came home to the farms their wives and families were already running in their absence, and nothing really changed in the first place. There weren’t many middle-class job opportunities for women, career-wise, except being teachers or nurses, having a beauty parlor, or working in a small factory. To be honest, it’s still very much like that, although it’s slowly changing. I think the concept of career women in “Mad Men”- Joans OR Peggys – would be utterly foreign to many of them, even today. It’s kind of crazy – the sexism in this area is even kind of egalitarian: men and women are constantly making jokes about how dumb each other is, but ultimately they work together fairly harmoniously. But there is little tolerance for upward mobility in either sex. I’m only 34, and when I was saving up to start college, people actually asked me, “Whatcha wanna do that for?” This was the same line a male friend, who’s 25 years older than me, got for wanting to go to college to study physics! Because of that kind of isolated culture, these people seem to have largely been unaware of the goings-on of other kinds of educational or working worlds. I think it really depends on where people were living after the War.

makeityourself

I immediately thought green = money when I saw Joan in that dress. She came to work that morning thinking she was literally on the doorstep of becoming a millionaire. And I also noticed all of the gold accents — the belt buckle, the buttons, the circle pin, the earrings, and most of all, the immense, clanking charm bracelet, filled with disc charms mimicking coins. She was covered in money.

And thanks for the callback photo TLo. In the older shot, Joan was wearing her pencil necklace. But in this episode’s shot she isn’t. I guess when she became a partner, that important accoutrement was finally retired.

kazibear

Thanks to you two I got the Joan in green and Peggy in purple when I first saw the episode and was immediately transported back to The Other Woman. Thank you x 1,000.

zenobar

Me too! Also I noticed that the cuts/accessorizing of both their current dresses were much more polished, streamlined and generally “professional” than the outfits they wore in “The Other Woman.” Not sure if that’s because 1968 styles were sleeker in general, but it made for interesting contrast.

flightier

They both have had significant bumps in income since then. I find it peculiar that Joan would buy two almost identical suits in such a short time, but I guess it’s practical and redheads are told to wear green.

Susannah Brooks

Peggy’s purple outfit in the last part is almost exactly the same cut as Joan’s green dress in “The Other Woman.” Even the scarves have similarly geometric patterns and coordination. The difference is that Peggy is now wearing the color that used to signify Joan’s vulnerability, right at the time Peggy’s getting drawn back into a place where she and Joan may not have as much power as they might have thought.

And I haven’t seen a ton of purple, or MEANINGFUL purple, on Joan lately.

Speaking of Joanie, I nearly recoiled at that flowered shirt. I am a Woman of Chest myself, so I feel her pain/power, but wow was that outfit not flattering. And she NEVER wears patterns like that. Between that and the hair, how can we not think that she’s completely discombobulated?

reebism

I noticed that too! And Joanie went through that horrible patterned blouse phase in season 4 — poor dear, I thought she was over that. And she has money now!

peggylarner

GREAT observation on the cut of those dresses! I remembered the color similarity to Peggy’s final dress last season, but definitely didn’t catch the Peggy-Joan connect on top of it.

Jessi03

“Woman of Chest” is my new favorite term. Thank you.

http://twitter.com/creeple Alice

That is fantastic!

gabbilevy

I’m glad you pointed that out, they’re so similar I had to go back and check they weren’t identical, other than color. I wonder if Janie is signalling that Peggy feels like she’s being whored out by Ted… or whored herself out to Ted for advancement (such as how Joan did to get her promotion)… Peggy feeling cheapened by the romantic moment she shared with Ted?

I suspect we’ll have to see if any more connections are drawn but there’s definitely something pulling those two moments together.

http://twitter.com/creeple Alice

That might be, but I don’t totally get the whore connection. I think it might be more about vulnerability, especially the emotional kind. Peggy wore purple when she was leaving SCDP, she was wearing purple during her lonely, drunken phone chat with Stan. And when she was thinking about getting it on with Ted in his office, she was wearing that same purple dress. I think the same parallel goes for Joan.

http://twitter.com/monapily monapily

“Woman of Chest!” I love it!

http://twitter.com/Orange_Swan Orange Swan

[adds “Woman of Chest” to ways to refer to herself, filing it after “being in the major leagues, chest-wise”]

http://twitter.com/PhDKnitter marlie

Also, I noticed that a lot of Peggy’s outfits seemed like updated/more expensive versions of Joan’s. They’re still connected, even if they don’t realize it.

omnivosaurusrex

Theres also a link back to the season premier with Don quoting the Pfc to Ted, and then a woman in purple documenting a merger/marriage that Don is presiding over.

http://profiles.google.com/diana.ruskin Diana Ruskin

I think it might bear some significance that Ted, who empowers Peggy with his trust and respect for her work, is so often clad in mustard, her historic power color.

MasterandServant

I was thinking this as well- he wears a lot of mustard.

imspinningaround

I thought the same thing! Since T & Lo have pointed out that golden yellow is Peggy’s power color I can’t stop noticing all the golden yellow shades they put Ted in in this episode. I think it’s charming.

(I totally ship Peggy and Ted. He has such kind eyes!)

peggylarner

Kinda in love with him also. Dreamy

Gatto Nero

An affair with the (married) boss, though? Disaster.

formerlyAnon

Until Ted leaves his wife, I hope she stays away even if it’s killing her. Because if he doesn’t/won’t, long term the only benefit to an affair for her will be to make it easier for her/force her to split up with Abe. LOTS of people wander into cheating in a way that makes it look mostly like a crutch for breaking up with someone, but she’s flirting with such an angsty scenario with such high potential for interfering with her work which is the ONE place that seems to be consistently a “good place” in her life. I am such a Peggy fan and I want her to be *happy* dammit!

siriuslover

I totally agree. I started the whole “I’m lusting after Ted” thread the other day, and even though I think they seem good together, it’s a totally bad idea, especially now.

Eskimoe

Yeah, but Ted and his wife seem kind of over. That was the only point of including her at the awards ceremony. Also, she was wearing yellow that night, but a kind of pastel, watered-down canary. Not a power color. Do we know if Ted has kids?

Jaialaibean

He’s got at least one — the son he referred to when he stalked Pete outside the hospital delivery room the day Trudy was giving birth.

Eskimoe

Damn. Kids make the inevitable so much more complicated.

purkoy28

thats right, i was wondering if he had kids too, i hope they show more into teds life at home with his family. im curious to see if he has a mod house to match j=his mod clothes.

Chris

I posted below to see if I could get anyone else to agree (or call me crazy) but all I could think of when Ted’s wife was shown was how her gown (bright yellow with a jeweled pattern around the neck/bust) and blonde hair immediately called to mind the madam at the whorehouse last season. The one Don told he grew up in a place like that. I don’t know if it is coincidence or if Janie Bryant is trying to say something. I did read an interview where she mentioned Ted’s wife is older than he is so they are kind of like the anti- Don and Megan. Older wife younger husband. I’m curious to see where it all goes with Peggy.

Eskimoe

Of COURSE his wife is older, that’s so perfect. He really is the anti-Don. He’s so ok with the idea of sharing power and letting other people see him fumble that he’ll even let Don see it. While I can see that there might be some kind of conspiracy/ Ted-looking-out-for-his-own aspect to the merger, I think it was intended to be more of a natural reaction to the fact that the G in CGC was just handed a death sentence. Every kind of cancer was more serious back then, and few people survive pancreatic cancer now, with all the treatment options available.

Glammie

Don’t get the Ted worship. I mean, Don jumped into the merger, but so did Ted. Admittedly, Ted isn’t launching the same surprise on his partners (one needs out, the other was in Detroit), but Ted’s got to know that Peggy didn’t want to work under Don since she jumped ship on her own initiative.

Ted just sold Peggy out. Not a good romantic prospect. I see no reason to believe that he’s not as ruthless as the rest of them. He’s had a few kind moments, but so have all of them–even Pete.

http://twitter.com/creeple Alice

Totally agreed. I love Ted myself as a character, but he’s bad news bears for Peggy. Don accidentally did her a favor by stopping her from bonking Ted in his office that night.

MartyBellerMask

I don’t think he did. She may see it this way but I think there is more to the picture. Another BK mentioned in the recap that they think Ted was manipulating Don in that scene and I think that could be true. So yes, Ted may be throwing Peggy back to the lions, but I think he’s going to show Don up as the alpha male. I think Pegs will like that.

Glammie

I don’t see that, though I see friction (with a nice underpinning of sexual jealousy) between them. No sign that Ted has Don’s flair for copy–that’s part of the reason, he’s so happy to have Peggy. He needs Peggy’s spark.

I kind of wonder if the burst of Ted fandom is that Peggy fans feel she’s finally getting her due as a woman–appreciated for both her brains and beauty.

It’s nice, but I see all sorts of red flags.

Elan

Peggy’s obviously not happy with the merger, and maybe something could have been worked out given a bit of time, but CGC was headed towards some choppy waters financially — down a car account plus the specter of having to cash out Gleason. The company going under wouldn’t be so great for Peggy, either, nor would being bought out by McCann as the old Sterling-Cooper was.

bxbourgie

I just commented on that. Ted wears it quite often, and in this last episode Don wore mustard when he was interacting with Ted at the bar and again in Ted’s office. He also wore mustard in the conference room when he told everyone he’d dumped the Jaguar guy.

http://www.facebook.com/lindsay.lyon.94 Lindsay Lyon

That’s an interesting insight into the bar scene. Two men, and what do they have in common? Peggy. So, it seems fitting that they are both wearing her color.

Glammie

But Peggy’s gone over to reddish-purple–the opposite on the color wheel.

JulieTy

And did the yellow ties at SCDP presage the merger?

http://www.facebook.com/danielle.thom.7 Danielle Thom

Someone else who wears a mustard jacket often: Stan. Both Stan and Ted have tended to treat Peggy with respect.

banannigans

And don’t forget Ken!

sojourneryouth

I also thought that Ted being in red in Peggy’s fantasy was a callback to Don’s whore red, especially since she and Abe had their green and blue adultery moment. I think Peggy’s even more like Don than we suspected.

Glammie

Yes, I think Don and Peggy are both kind of romantics–they build up dream images and believe in them, then come down hard when reality strikes. The best salesmen are those who believe their own pitch. They both know how to tap into the needs and desires of others, but neither has a lot of self-awareness and neither sees their romantic partners clearly.

I think, though, Peggy is much less of an emotional wreck than Don. I think she’ll be okay, I’m substantially more pessimistic about Don. Hmmm, I bet we’ll see something along those lines in the series finale. The show is, in many ways, about Peggy’s rise to power. It’s *her* first day of work we see in the very first episode.

LKN

It also seems that Ted is wearing Stan’s exact mustard-yellow checked jacket that he wears for presentations. So yellow to connect Ted and Stan with Peggy?

http://twitter.com/creeple Alice

I noticed that too! It’s not the exact same jacket – Ted’s is doublebreasted – but the colors are definitely the same. Stan’s been color-tied with Peggy for quite a while, and lately Stan and Ted have been dressed very similarly, or in identical color schemes.

AudreysMom

Good catch. Ted reminds me of Dick Van Dyke (who also sported turtlenecks about that time). I wonder sometimes if the actor was cast to channel the nice guy that DVD most often portrays.

Eskimoe

Thank you! I’ve been scrolling down to see if anyone else brought it up! He’s constantly in Peggy yellow. Ken Cosgrove has hints of it, which is a symbol of their pact, but Ted has jackets and sweaters and pants in exactly that mustard color. In fact, in the scene where he kisses her the only outfit colors are Peggy’s blue dress, his green sweater, and his Peggy-yellow trousers.

Sobaika

I loved Joan’s clanging jewelry as she seethed at Don. Mostly because I wanted it, but also because it seemed apropos for the moment.

http://profiles.google.com/diana.ruskin Diana Ruskin

It’s also great that the dissonant clanging comes from her dainty, almost juvenile charm bracelet – it’s as if her innocence is crying out in protest.

http://www.facebook.com/danielle.thom.7 Danielle Thom

Yes, but it also recalls the jangling of coins… another sex-for-money reference?

Glammie

Yep, I think so–all about the money. I also think the circle pins show up when things are coming “full circle”–the fall-out from the Jaguar deal, once again, for Joan. You leave Don out of a decision at your peril because he’ll do whatever the fuck he wants anyway.

3hares

I think that jewelry also sounds like cold coins clinking, hanging gold on her actual body.

Gatto Nero

But Joan’s not innocent …

Robyn Garrett

Are we going to talk about how Roger sleeping with that stewardess to land new accounts is a direct parallel to Joan sleeping with Herb to get Jaguar? And everyone’s attitudes about these are completely different. Roger was just a lot slicker about it.

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1540233153 Malve Lyborg

Well but the stewardess is attractive, Roger would have slept with her anyway. And Herb had to pay for Joan sleeping with him, she didn’t like it.

purkoy28

roger and the stewrdess both know the others expectations and like each other, so its different. not sure theres much of a connection there.

Gatto Nero

It was almost as though she was rattling her chains in anger over Don’s power over her and the fate of the agency.

Aurumgirl

I think it’s like Marley rattling his ghostly chains at the thing Scrooge has become! I also took that jangling as a physical manifestation of Joan’s fury at Don. But it was a tiny bit hypocritical, coming from a woman who was conspiring to take the company into public ownership without letting Don in on the plan, like she was raging with the gold the last risky venture secured for her.

Michele Miller

What happened to the necklace Joan always wore? Did she stop wearing it after Peggy fired that guy who talked back to Joan?

Sobaika

I’m not sure when it stopped exactly, but it seems right that she doesn’t wear the pen necklace anymore. She’s a partner now.

http://www.tomandlorenzo.com/ Tom and Lorenzo

She stopped as of the beginning of this season.

MartyBellerMask

Megan’s bracelet was jangling, too, in the sex scene.
Surely not a coincidence, especially if you relate it to coins jingling.

jtabz

Oh, what I would give for that powder blue dress Peggy’s wearing in the adulterous kiss scene.

C. C. Winslow

I loved that dress. Don’t recall seeing her in that color before.

sagecreek

Really? Huh. Might be generational … to you it looks cool and retro, to me I’m just, “Peggy, WHY ARE YOU DRESSING LIKE YOU ARE A FORTY YEAR OLD SCHOOLTEACHER?”

bxbourgie

LOL! Peggy’s always dressed older than her age, so this makes sense.

siriuslover

I liked the dress, but there was this moment when we saw her from behind when she went to help pick up the TV and all I could think of was Alice from Brady Bunch.

yllas

It’s made from heavy polyester knit, the newest thing back in those days. I liked it myself, color and style, but I remember polyester being very hot to wear, and it tended to trap odors. Good or bad odors.

Glammie

Oh, man, flashback. There was this one year where every dress and pants I received were made of that doubleknit. I had not one, but two, purple pants suits (Mom, what were you thinking?). A velour moment followed.

sarahjane1912

Loved it as well! Of course, I’d have to go down a gazillion sizes in bra size, but hey ho … 😉

jen_wang

I think it’s one of the few outfits she has without a Peter Pan collar! To me, that and the tailoring make it look much more sophisticated than most of her other clothes, even with this season’s upgrades. Apropos for a more grown-up sort of scene.

roble ridge

Totally agree that this dress is so much more sophisticated. And I love the tailored look for Peggy. I do not miss her Peter Pan collars at all. It’s hard for me to take her seriously when I see her wearing them.

roble ridge

I’ve been loving Peggy in this shade of grey-blue. The trench coat she wore when she hugged Dawn in “The Flood” was also this color. I remember seeing that coat on her and thinking “WOW! That’s such a great color for Elizabeth Moss!” I really hope that we get to see more of Peggy wearing this color – it’s my favorite for her.

No worries! I was going to say you could edit your post to change the name and I’ll just delete my posts though.

http://twitter.com/creeple Alice

I had one similar to it in brown! The fabric was kind of smooth-stiff with a great texture. I loved that dress. Basically, I want all of Peggy’s outfits this season. I love her mod look. It’s adorable.

http://twitter.com/MFeatherstone Mary Featherstone

Amazing.

Scimommy

OMG. The pick-up on the callbacks to The Other Woman in Joan’s and Peggy’s dresses is brilliant. They cannot get away, can they? I have hope for Peggy, though.

Also, I just noticed – in the scene with his partners, Ted is wearing suit and tie in Peggy’s signature mustard color!

Also, also – did anyone notice that Roger’s latest is yet another Joan look-alike? That’s not coincidental casting.

jen_wang

Re: Daisy looking like Joan–totally. Reminded me of Joan teasing him in S1 that he’d eventually move on to a younger model. It felt like another recollection of “The Other Woman” to me; I think that episode was tacitly the point at which they stopped being friends.

http://www.facebook.com/people/Kim-Elmore/1308422874 Kim Elmore

BAM!!! “Either way, it’s clear to us that Don never got over his failure to save Joan and the current scene is reflecting that in Joan’s costuming. In fact, if we want to be really poetic about it; Joan sees herself as that executive who earned herself a spot in the partnership (reflecting the dress she wore the next morning); Don sees her as a whore he failed to save (reflecting the bathrobe she wore when he tried).” Fucking brilliant!!!

Angela_the_Librarian

Thank you once again for brilliant commentary on the costuming of Mad Men. I have one humble request, could we possibly get updated style evolutions for the major characters?(after the current season is over of course). Just seeing the few pictures you posted from earlier seasons made me wonder how you would expand on those earlier postings.

http://www.facebook.com/megan.kennedy.395 Megan Kennedy

I’m new to your blog and obsessed with these. What do you think of Trudy’s overcoat? The pink underneath suggests that she had lingering hopes for Pete, but those hopes are being smothered by … a beige checked pattern? It’s sturdy, businesslike and probably the least feminine thing Trudy’s ever worn, but I wonder if there’s anything else there?

http://www.tomandlorenzo.com/ Tom and Lorenzo

I think your take sounds right.

ferngilly

Peggy’s purple, wide peter pan collar/coordinating scarf combo in the final scene of the episode calls back to the green suit Joan wore in the office the morning after her night with Herb. In the scene with Frank and Jim, Ted is wearing Peggy’s power color yellow mustard (and he also wears it in other scenes). Could be simple overlap and that those colors were trendy, but those were two features of the episode I noticed right away after reading this post.

peggylarner

Yeah, I wish the similar form of Peggy/Joan’s dresses had been called out as well! They’re nearly identical.

C. C. Winslow

My disgust at Megan smoking in her dressing room almost made me choke. YUCK, how could you do that to those beautiful clothes. And I was a smoker for 20 years … how quickly we forget.

fitzg

I was wondering whether there was any significance to the fact that Joan is wearing green in these scenes – the original green bathrobe, the scene with the partners the “morning after,” and the scene this week with the Don confrontation — which is the opposite side of the color wheel from red, Don’s trigger color. Does the green signify Don’s protective instinct, the opposite of his instinct to attack?

http://www.facebook.com/kathryn.sanderson.7 Kathryn Sanderson

I was thinking of something more obvious: green=money, which fits with the prostitution theme. Red and green are opposites on the color wheel. Don’s “trigger color” (and “whore color”) is red, yet green is also being used to signify prostitution (and adultery). Does this mean that all women are ultimately whores in Don’s eyes, or that Don is deceiving himself by dividing women into whores and women worthy of respect? Joan and Don’s stepmother appear to be opposites, but they’ve both used sex to survive and make a living for their children.

sagecreek

Okay, I’ll date myself here…the fangirl in the elevator on the left? I HAD THAT EXACT SAME NOTEBOOK.

*weeps*

decormaven

Hey, I’m eyeing that girl’s dress hard, because it looks like a “Denise Are Here!” dress. The collar and cuff details are very familiar.

Gatto Nero

The notebooks were perfect — complete with plastic pencil bags!

MsKitty

Kudos to the props crew being so detail oriented that they actually have shopping bags on hand from Korvettes, A&P and the like. It’s a little thing but seeing them takes me back to my 4-5 year old self tagging along with my mom on her weekly shopping.

And I had one of those flowered loose leaf binders in orange for second grade.

beebee10

I saw Trudy dressing like a “princess” in her nightie and robe, showing us how she sees herself and later how her father referred to her. She rules the roost!

http://www.facebook.com/megan.kennedy.395 Megan Kennedy

Loved T&Lo’s observation that her clothes are getting simpler now. I wonder if she’ll ever be able to see herself as a princess again, especially after that revelation about her dad. A princess is only a princess because she’s the king’s daughter.

jen_wang

I think not, and I think that’s what Pete’s hoping for. The closeness of their relationship has always made him jealous and angry, and he’s totally choosing to poison the well instead of get Trudy back.

http://twitter.com/Rowsella315 Kathy G

The issue with Trudy is she never stopped being the princess. When Pete could not provide, she still went to Daddy. I know everyone is all Trudy is so perfect etc. but that isn’t necessarily true. Both have staged their betrayals, Trudy’s just appear more socially acceptable.

Glammie

Interesting–and a story line–which means maybe Trudy won’t disappear as a character.

ThaliaKat

You guys probably know this, but in the Middle Ages, green symbolized many things, including fertility, adultery and prostitution. In some places, prostitutes were legally required to wear green in order to signal their availability. It was also the color of Venus back in ancient Rome. Maybe the costume designers read up on their history this season?

http://twitter.com/Rowsella315 Kathy G

Green is the color of the heart chakra….

bxbourgie

Love that you guys picked up on Joan’s dress the day after she slept with Herb. I did notice Peggy’s dress was the same color as the one she wore when she gave Don her two weeks. Poor Peggy. Just when she thought she was out, Don PULLED HER BACK IN! Also: Ted Chaough is still dreamy.

Peggy’s former power color mustard is all over this season… Chaough and Don especially.

http://classversussass.com Class Versus Sass

I agree poor Peggy and I don’t think she was thrilled to be the person stuck writing the press release.

Spicytomato1

Yeah, she was just blindsided, you could almost see the wheels turning as she tried to process what was happening. She thought she might be going to Ted’s office for a canoodle (her powdering her nose was kinda heartbreaking) and instead she sees Don of all people and gets that news. Very well played scene.

http://classversussass.com Class Versus Sass

And they both acted clueless, which maybe Ted is because I am not sure if he got the full story on her leaving. However Don offered her more money and she still left. I took her saying…I bought an apartment to mean…I am stuck because I need a job even more. Had she not, I think she may have looked elsewhere. I think going back for her is going to be even worse now that she is used to being treated with a lot more respect.

Glammie

Why are people giving Ted Chaough a pass? He’s never shown a sign of being naive or clueless. He’s ambitious and goes after things–Peggy’s feelings, in that sense, don’t matter to him more than an agency-saving deal does.

He’s not that different from Don. All sorts of signs are there. It’s not like Peggy’s *ever* had good taste in men.

http://classversussass.com Class Versus Sass

Okay I am not giving Ted a pass, my only point is that he might not know the whole reason she left her old agency therefore he may really think this a great career move for her. As for her taste in men..well to be fair there aren’t any decent guys on the show and those are the ones she is limited too:). Kidding, Abe is a decent guy…I just think their lives are very different. Pete and Duck were a fail.

aeb1986

I forgot how powerful that scene is when Peggy tells Don she’s leaving and he kisses her hand. The dress in Sundays episode is a perfect call back to that. Great recap as usual!

Jenny

Is Megan sporting a sad blue marriage robe?

And Pete and Trudy’s entire bedroom is decorated in blue and green. Huh.

Chris

I’ve been very excited to see the Mad Style report and your analysis of the clothes compared to “The Other Woman.”
As always, I thoroughly enjoyed it and appreciate all the time it must take to make all the screencaps!

A couple of things that popped out at me over the last episodes were that Peggy’s nightie reminded me a bit of Megan’s robe from last season. It could just be because they are “of the period.”

Something that struck me when watching the previous episode “The Flood” was how much Ted Chaough’s wife reminded me of the whorehouse madam from the last season. They are both blondes wearing very bright yellow evening dresses with a similar white/jeweled pattern around the neck/ bust. Did anyone else think it seemed similar? Or is it a case of sometimes a cigar is just a cigar?

http://www.facebook.com/agatha.guilluame.7 Agatha Guilluame

Peggy and Pete are not Don. They can’t have consequence free/guilt free affairs. So why even try?

http://twitter.com/KathleenMKeenan Kathleen Keenan

I’m not sure I want to see a Peggy and Ted affair. I actually like Abe! I think he and Peggy complement each other. (I wonder what happened to Joyce? Is it just that Zosia Mamet is on Girls now?)

I also just don’t get a romantic vibe going from Peggy to Ted, her fantasy in this episode aside. It feels more like she’s noticed that he may be interested in her so she’s just wondering about it. But I hope it doesn’t go anywhere.

jen_wang

It seems like Peggy and Ted are both grateful: Ted because she sees him as strong, not just nice; Peggy because Ted really values and appreciates her work, and is generous with praise. I think the affair’s going to happen, but it’s at least nice that Ted stopped things after a kiss that time—you don’t get the feeling that he’s a serial adulterer like Don.

VanessaDK

Me too! If they survive the early years, they will end up one of NYs power couples.

Aurumgirl

I have this feeling that Peggy’s attraction to Ted is totally based on silly fantasy, and I can’t help but think that the whole “SOMETHING” by Ralph Waldo Emerson book, which was hilarious, highlighted the possibility that maybe she’s aware that it’s goofy as well. A big deal is made out of the fact that things are changing drastically for Peggy–she’s in new neighbourhood that’s not great, her house under construction for what seems like ever, and all things are in a transition, and Peggy hates change. There’s even a change brewing with Ted and Peggy and it doesn’t have much to do with flirtation, it has everything to do with “Will there even be an agency at all?” now that the partners are dwindling and clients have been lost. But I’m not sure Peggy knows about any of that, that’s a change she doesn’t even see coming that will definitely affect her in a negative way. At least the merger works out well for her in that she gets to stay employed.

In the midst of all the turmoil, I also get the impression that Peggy “writing the press release” and being told to “imagine an agency where she wants to work” is the one thing that brings her out of fantasizing her way out of confronting the changes, so that she can actually decide what the changes will be. I’m not so sure the merger is such a bad thing–and I think the flirtation with Ted won’t turn into a full blown affair. But it may just become an even better working relationship.

http://twitter.com/PhDKnitter marlie

Yes, it seems like Peggy has more of a silly crush on Ted, but I think she’s too smart to actually get involved with him. AND she seems disillusioned with him, just like she was with Don.

Girl_With_a_Pearl

I like Abe, but he and Peggy are going in two very different directions. Peggy is going back to her old company where Dow chemical is a client. That is not going to sit well with Abe as the war continues to escalate, not to mention that she is not happy with their new apartment and Abe sees nothing wrong with it. Ted’s marriage seems to be falling apart even without Ted having an affair with Peggy. Of all the guys that Peggy has been involved with, Ted seems to have the same career goals that she has and he seems like a nice guy. Now he just has to get that divorce.

http://twitter.com/creeple Alice

I’m not sure myself what to make of the Peggy-Ted dynamic. I think both of them are emotionally vulnerable right now – Peggy feels out of control in her life when the men in it make decisions for her. Ted has a shitty marriage (I picked up that Nan might be an alkie – she looked wasted at the ANDY awards). I don’t want to see them just have an affair “to see where it goes,” because that would be a really stupid idea. But Peggy’s had an emotionally vulnerable affair with a turtleneck guy before – with Duck Phillips. I personally like Ted Chaough’s character, but if they’re meant to be endgame with Weiner, now is not the time to start. She always picks the wrong men, anyway. Clearly her soul mate is Stan. 😉

http://twitter.com/KathleenMKeenan Kathleen Keenan

Good point about Dow. (Although… thanks to Pete, Dow is gone now, right?) But I do think that being with Abe is Peggy’s way of indulging some of her counterculture leanings while continuing to work in a more conservative environment (comparatively speaking). So their relationship makes her more… well-rounded, or something. And I don’t know, I just see more chemistry between Abe and Peggy (or Stan and Peggy, as noted below) than between Ted and Peggy. Must be those turtlenecks.

Elan

Thanks to Pete, Vicks is gone. Dow is Ken’s father-in-law’s company.

http://twitter.com/KathleenMKeenan Kathleen Keenan

Riiiight. Thanks!

sarahjane1912

Words fail me. I wish I could contribute something that I saw that would add a frisson to your take on the episode, but I’m empty. You cover everything so beautifully. Thank you again.

Except the logo. I love the CGC logo. I know it’s not strictly Mad Style, but I just had to say that it really goes to the perfection of the show that even a letterhead logo we see for a mere few seconds is just … sublime.

decormaven

Absolutely! I’m already having fantasies of the typeface they’ll use for the new merged agency. Back in the day, crafting a typeface- memories.

http://twitter.com/creeple Alice

It was spot on for the time! I actually squealed in joy when I saw it. Are we all designers here?

Jaialaibean

I adore the logo, too. I’m not a designer, but things like that make me want to go to art school.

http://www.facebook.com/NJPag Nicholas Jude Paganelli

The little neckerchief on Peggy’s dress at the end looks like the one on Joan’s post-coital dress, and it’s interesting that they’re purple and teal, offshoots of blue and green.

Jessi03

I noticed that, too.

http://twitter.com/mk_patter Megasus

It looks like Pete’s tie has gold edging on the red stripes, so he does have a yellow shade in it, just not nearly as much as everyone else’s.

Onirica

Megano! I’m Tam from the HFC, fancy seeing you here. Haha <3

http://twitter.com/lady_dilettante lady_dilettante

Did anyone notice that the yellow-and-black striped tie that Don is wearing in the scene where Joan gives him a talking to is (almost?) identical to the tie Pete is wearing at the kitchen table during his talk with Trudy? I’ve looked between them several times and can’t spot the difference. Like they traded ties or something?

LoveThisSite

What did you think about the number of times we saw underwear/panties in this episode? I felt like it was more than usual.

Lisa

And panties have gotten so modern! Even the underwear that Megan wore in 5:2 when cleaning her apartment (which I think was 1966) looks terribly old-fashioned in comparison.

purkoy28

i thought so too, i didnt think thongs were invented then yet.

Aurumgirl

I don’t think I’ve ever seen an “Up the bum” shot on Mad Men before. Or, really, anywhere. So yes, I think we’re seeing far more panties than usual. I would include Megan’s ultra short dress in that, as well, as that dress was short enough to make panty viewing one wrong move away.

lulubella

I know, that was a little shocking. Wasn’t there a scene when Joan was changing Kevin and they zoomed on his tush or something? I remember thinking, “why?”

http://twitter.com/PhDKnitter marlie

I think it was more than his tush. But I remember being a little surprised, too.

lulubella

LOL, tush + !?!?! … did anyone ever discuss and/or determine WHY they did that? It felt to me like someone hacked the final tape and snuck in that “scene.” So random and … what about that poor baby/actor? What a resume line item.

JulieTy

Tow thoughts to add:
1. Megan in the elevator is SO channelling Ann Marie: the coat with the matching sunglasses on her head; she’s an actress in NYC living in a fab apartment (that she couldn’t realistically afford on her own); she’s even with a guy named Don!
2. Rickie Tickie Stickies!!
I am having a serious flashback and need to lie down.

Joan Dahlgren

Re “That Girl,” you’re completely spot on.

lulubella

How I loved Ann Marie’s dress and coat combos, little square toed low heeled pumps, and her big black round glasses. I am now remembering the peanut butter on corn flakes she served at her party because she ran out of food, and dubbed them “crisbits.”

http://twitter.com/cyanchannel Cyan

I think the blue/green combo is not just adultery – it’s subterfuge, secrets, scheming in general. Because they are not just any blue/green, they are particularly withheld, subdued versions of those colors. The blue/green of playing your cards close to the chest and being up to something you are going to lie to people about.

Guest

Since they used “L’Amour est Bleu” this season, I was curious about the lyrics…if they hold any clues to the costuming choices (here’s an translation for some unknown source.)

Blue, blue, my world is blue
Blue is my world now I’m without you
Gray, gray, my life is gray
Cold is my heart since you went away

Red, red, my eyes are red
Crying for you alone in my bed
Green, green, my jealous heart
I doubted you and now we’re apart

When we met how the bright sun shone
Then love died, now the rainbow is gone

Black, black, the nights I’ve known
Longing for you so lost and alone

Girl_With_a_Pearl

Yikes! Now I’ve got that song stuck in my head. It’s a good song, but it’s an earworm.

TonyGo

Since they used “L’Amour est Bleu” this season, I was curious about the lyrics…if they hold any clues about the costuming and set decorating choices. (Here’s a translation from some unknown source)

Blue, blue, my world is blue
Blue is my world now I’m without you
Gray, gray, my life is gray
Cold is my heart since you went away

Red, red, my eyes are red
Crying for you alone in my bed
Green, green, my jealous heart
I doubted you and now we’re apart

When we met how the bright sun shone
Then love died, now the rainbow is gone

Black, black, the nights I’ve known
Longing for you so lost and alone

http://twitter.com/creeple Alice

Oh wow – that would be the ultimate tribute to Janie Bryant!

deitybox

What about the fact that Peggy’s purple dress and scarf combo is the same one she wore just a couple of episodes ago when she was being disrespected by her asshole underlings, and Ted laughed it off?

Also, does anyone here read the weekly Mad Men Power Rankings on grantland.com? You need to check it out. A choice excerpt:

The firms of Margaret Olson and This Is Some Bullshit would like to
announce that it would’ve been nice if SOMEONE had consulted her about
her new boss shacking up with the self-destructive human tire-fire of a
mentor she finally found the courage to leave, hoping to make her own
name in the world.

I seriously hate Ted’s turtlenecks! I hate them. I don’t care if it is what a more hip date would wear in 68, Every time I see him on the screen wearing one, I can’t stop laughing. I hope when they move to SCDP that Joan lets him know they are not office appropriate there.

Aurumgirl

I love his green turtle neck from the drunk and watching Hazel scene! My mother bought that sweater for my father as a birthday gift when I was a little girl. He still has it!

filmcricket

They crack me up too. Andy Williams – or the later Rat Pack. I remember seeing the original “Ocean’s Eleven” and asking my parents why these guys in Mr. Rogers cardigans were considered the epitome of cool. My dad’s answer: “Because nobody else was doing that at the time.” They just look so dorky to me.

Ted’s sick partner, on the other hand, reminded me powerfully of my grandfather. He was very tall, and wore neckerchiefs with open collars like that. His outfits were always navy and white, though, because he was in the navy in WWII.

http://twitter.com/creeple Alice

*sheepishly turns red* I love men in turtlenecks. I guess I’m just a dork at heart, but I think he looks pretty foxy in them.

MartyBellerMask

I unabashedly LOVE turtlenecks. And they are definitely Ted’s “swagger” wear.

http://robot-heart.tumblr.com heartbot

I love the flight attendant’s mountain of fake hair in the back. I worked as a flight attendant for a while 5-ish years ago, and I still occasionally ran into women who’d been around since the 70s who still trotted out the fake hair and fake eyelashes for every flight. Very fun to see this. I wish our uniforms had been HALF as adorable.

http://www.facebook.com/caroline.neu1 Caroline Neu

Nice – last sentence is a callback to the Sopranos! Also enjoyed the Game of Thrones reference in your Monday post.

CatherineRhodes

The last line was a reference to The Godfather.

http://dontmakeitlikeimdumb.blogspot.com/ annabelle archer

I think your insights into the costuming of this show are simply brilliant. That is all.

Melissa Snyder

Lots of shopping bags in this episode.

formerlyAnon

I got ridiculously excited when I saw Megan’s hatbox. Not just that it was a hatbox – but so sturdy in construction.

appliquer

Hooray – it is Wednesday! Though-provoking review as usual. Thanks so much for the effort!

Another voice in the chorus: THANK YOU for these fabulous posts! I get giddy on Wednesday mornings when I see the words “Mad Style” load at the top of your page. xo

formerlyAnon

Thanks guys, for the Perry Como reference! You nailed a feeling I hadn’t been able to about Ted’s attire.

My take on Peggy’s fantasy-with-Ted-in-smoking-jacket is a little different (and no doubt entirely colored by my reaction to Peg+Ted as a couple). Almost everything about it warns that this fantasy is EXACTLY that – a fantasy that should not be relied upon to hold up in reality.

Ted in the smoking jacket is not just a fantasy, it verges on a laughable one.(“Something” hahahaha!). It feels constructed and superficial (and yes, he reads as middle-aged) compared to Abe’s well-built young body in his reliable everyday undies. Abe is there, he’s real, and he’s looking quite substantially attractive, in an every day way. Fantasy is well and good, but I think the wardrobe choices reinforce that it’s going to melt away like a dream if Peggy tries an involvement with Ted in reality. (I kept thinking about the MacArthur Park lyric about the cake left out in the rain when I went back to this scene – though admittedly that’s a tortured analogy that could apply to Peggy & Abe as well.)

(Someone’s keeping up with the laundry – no dingy yellowing or greying!)

jen_wang

That smoking jacket and the “SOMETHING” felt like a comic riff on Betty’s fainting couch fantasies. I kind of love that Peggy’s such a schoolgirl that that’s the sexiest thing she can come up with.

formerlyAnon

AND that Abe’s apparently pretty “sex is wholesome like milk” in orientation – they’ve been together long enough that he should have influenced her thinking on that topic. Though pre-Internet, many more of us were somewhat sheltered by today’s standards.

http://www.facebook.com/leela.corman Leela Corman

Every time I see Ted in one of his turtleneck ensembles, I want to cry out “Hi-ho, Kermit thee Frog here!”

And can we just have a moment of silence to appreciate the GIANT RED GO-GO BOOTS on the stewardesses? Or are they too high to be properly called go-go boots? No matter, they were delicious.

Jaialaibean

The really funny thing was that Ted was also wearing a turtleneck under his dressing gown in Peggy’s fantasy — IN BED, of all places.

formerlyAnon

And a *blue* one at that.

disqus_QWeePt2S2Z

Let’s not forget that Peggy lost her father as a child — there’s a reason she’s got a thing for the older fellows, she’s probably craving that strong male figure in her life.

http://www.facebook.com/megan.kennedy.395 Megan Kennedy

True fact. Why does she always end up with manchildren, only to cheat on them with Men? She needs a better version of Duck in her life.

http://shesighsandsays.tumblr.com Damla

I really like how Ken’s office is decorated. Ken himself fits so well in the color scheme, even the lilac and teal don’t look out of place. I also like the modernist paintings on his walls – reminds you of Bert Cooper’s practicality and eccentric flair. Oh, the things Dave Algonquin must be writing on that typewriter…

A question for TLo: We’ve seen a couple of restaurant scenes this season, and it feels like they haven’t changed a lot since 1960 (the seating arrangement in the restaurant with the swinger couple could be an exception). The mid-century aesthetic seems to be sticking. Have I failed to notice any changes, or did the upper class dining industry take the changing slow?

The current state of the Olsen-Drexler residence is killing me. It’s not only that there’s such a lot of work to do, but the layout (at least the layout of the living room) seems a little awkward too. I want Peggy to live in bright spaces with a lot of light.

And Ted should have tucked in that undershirt.

http://www.tomandlorenzo.com/ Tom and Lorenzo

Restaurant scenes tend to be client/award/business affairs, which means none of the people involved would have any reason to be seeking out trendier places. By their nature, restaurants that host those kinds of parties tend to be relatively traditional and wealth-signaling. Very middle-aged and upper middle class.

siriuslover

It’s awesome that the shirt is not tucked in, I felt it reflected his kind of mental state at the moment. And that bit about “I wanted to watch Hazel, but I can’t get reception.” He’s regressed to a childlike state in the opening parts of this scene, whether because he sees things going out of control in the business or what I don’t know.

And speaking of decorations and wall hangings: I really want to see that shoe in the door (foot in the door?) picture hanging in Ted’s office close up. It’s striking to me and I wonder if there’s something more to it. Or maybe it’s just a shoe.

Logo Girl

Hazel seemed like such an odd choice for a show to want to watch… Though it is a show about a maid and maids (Don and Sylvia in the maid’s room, Megan playing a maid) have figured into this season somewhat significantly.

Aurumgirl

Ever lived through a renovation? They captured the feeling of that awful, never-ending uncomfortable transition perfectly. The rooms always seem too dark, on the verge of collapse, filthy, and unsalvageable, and plans for the fix-up always seem impossible at that stage. I think it looks like Abe and Peggy bought a brownstone and they’ve got a lot of work to do, but you can’t see what it will be like until it’s done. It was such a stark reality compared to the wide open, spotless, airy and light high rise apartment we saw her hoping to buy last week, too.

Spicytomato1

Yes, I was struck by the contrast between the two apartments, too. And having lived through renovations like that, you’re right, they nailed the vibe perfectly.

bayusc

The charm bracelet Joan wears when telling off Don reminds me EXACTLY of one my mother has – with charms from all her travels and such. She and Joan would be just about the same age. Must have been something women were into back then.

throwaneyeonthis

Yes, my mother wore her charm bracelet like a trophy. Men would travel on business and bring their wives back charms. It was a measurement of success. Kind of like big engagement rings are now.

missd

i dunno why, but i was amused by the rattling of it. It just seemed so real. Like if you planned to be angry, you wouldn’t have worn the damn jangly thing!. It’s my main hatred of that type of bracelet

Jaialaibean

It looked like it had hearts on it. Very symbolic.

Glammie

Joan wearing her heart on her wrist?

Spicytomato1

Yes, my mom had one, too. My dad always bought a new charm for every special occasion. I tried to start one of my own as a kid to be like her but never got past one or two charms.

sweetlilvoice

Charm bracelets make a resurgence every couple of years or so. The only ones are really nice. The last rendition I remember was in 2002-03, the last time I worked in retail at a child/tween/teen girl store.

Zaftiguana

Pobrecita Peggy. She’s got some real daddy issues, doesn’t she? I feel terrible for her, but I’m selfishly thrilled to see she and Joan thrown back together, not as partner/CFO and Head Copywriter. A far cray from their days in the secretarial pool. Seeing Pegs wear almost the exact same dress in purple that Joanie wore in blue/green in “The Other Woman” only increased the excitement. Those bitches are going to have some shit to SAY in their little private smoking meetings in Joan’s office.

filmcricket

The possibility of more meetings like that is really the thing that makes me happiest about the merger. It’s a great story for viewers, but it has the potential to be disastrous for the characters. But if Peggy & Joanie can get over their history and have a few more sessions like that, I will be a happy woman.

Peggy’s purple dress with the scarf also reminded me of a scene in S1 where Peggy’s in purple at her desk, wearing a neck scarf like Joan told her to, and Joan is looming over her giving her shit. I hope her return to the SC(DP) fold will not feature more such moments.

disqus_QWeePt2S2Z

Also love how the name of the episode both foreshadows the press release Peggy is writing AND describes Don’s basic MO: doing rash things and making impulsive decisions that relieve a pressing and current discomfort but only bring long-term unhappiness. Which is what a lot of consumerism and advertising encourages anyhow, buying stuff you don’t need to fill a void or vacuum and soon you’re back to the same old state of wanting something different from what you have. Brilliant really.

http://theargiehome.blogspot.com/ Gus Casals

Every Mad Style there is something that makes me go: “you’re
right!” and that I probably missed the first couple of times ( I expect to have
watched the ep 3 times before the next one airs. I have problems, I know).

This time is the callback from Megan’s OMG-dinner dress and
her audition ensemble. Actually, I paid attention to all the scripted
callbacks, without focusing on the obvious visuals.

Wonderful as usual.

MK03

Looking at the details, I guess Megan’s dinner dress is not her audition dress with new details. Bah.

I loved Trudy’s peignor, it’s very Disney (I was waiting for the birds to bring her robe). I first thought she was still mad at him, but then she stood up and showed what she was wearing and I thought “nah, of course she’ll take him back”.

Melissa Snyder

Speaking of Disney, I kept expecting to hear “If You Had Wings” in the airport lounge.

makeityourself

Oh man. I’ll never forget that ride or that song.

Joan Arkham

I’d kill for it in black. Been looking for a peignor set for years now.

Jaialaibean

One thing it signals (aside from the “daddy’s princess” connotation) is the unreality of Trudy’s fantasy that Pete was reforming his ways and coming back to her, rather than on his way to a house of prostitution and a high-handed conflict with her equally rotten father.

Lisa

I doubt Trudy was shocked at all about what Pete told her about her father. The disturbing thing for her would have been that instead of making an effort to get back together, he went out of his way to purposely do something to end things permanently. Even I was a little surprised at that, and I think she certainly would have been. However good his marriage to Trudy once was for him, he seems to be done with it.

3hares

Given how idealized Tom was about his own relationship with Trudy and the glory it bestowed on him I don’t see why it wouldn’t be a shock to his pink princess to listen to someone talk about running into him just after he had sex with a prostitute. Pete said it in response to Trudy starting on a righteous defense of how great her father was both as a man and to Pete and that’s when he undercut it.

It just seems to lose a lot if Trudy’s actually totally down with her father’s extra-marital sex life and just being mad that Pete wants to end the marriage. I’d say it was the opposite–it was only because Trudy didn’t want her idealized version of her father messed with that Pete saying something like that would end the marriage by itself. It wasn’t Pete lashing out in anger that shocked her, imo, it was that he would say something so horrible and put that image in her head. Pete was angry at the fantasy relationship both Tom and Trudy were pushing and smashed it. This is the same woman who asked Abe “what was so bad” in the summer of 65. Her ability to deny and ignore and remove things that aren’t the way she wants them to be is very impressive–but not all-powerful.

NoveltyRocker

Trudy is an entertaining aspect of the show but it was just so satisfying to see her daddy’s girl bubble get busted finally.

decormaven

When the prostitute came out of the room, followed by Trudy’s father, I flashed on Jackie, the first prostitute Joel calls in “Risky Business.”

filmcricket

Trudy is so often done up on Mad Men, but looking at the screen shots there you can really see how Alison Brie was able to play a housewife here and a teenager on Community at the same time. She looks so much younger without all the makeup and other trappings.

Spicytomato1

So true. And it reinforces my feeling that the rigid styles of the 50s and 60s added years to the looks of many women. The 70s to come, when so many women went “au naturel” is such a HUGE change!

http://asskickingadviser.com/ Ass Kicking Adviser

Brilliant as usual. You guys definitely nailed the blue-green adultery thing and yes, no more pussyfooting necessary. My favorite outfit has to be the stewardess. And the ‘Something by RWE’ – it’s so funny it seems out of place. But I’ll take it.

http://twitter.com/mirrormirrorxx Paola Thomas

I still think blue and green means something a little more than adultery. Blue means something like ‘established’ ‘traditional’ ‘rule-bound’ ‘conventional’ ‘status quo’ and green means something like ‘free-spirited’ ‘independent’ ‘rule-breaking’ etc. So it’s no surprise that the colours come together in adulterous scenes, which are all about seeking independence and freedom from the rules of an established marriage; and that the colours are being used a lot in this series in general, where the counter-culture finally goes mainstream against traditional rules and ideas.

In the Teddy and Peggy scene, it’s Teddy who’s wearing green because he’s the one breaking the rules, but Peggy in blue pushes him back because she’s the one maintaining the status quo (though notably she’s in a very PALE shade of blue). When Joan lets rip against Don, it’s no accident that she’s wearing green. The convention in the office has been to pussyfoot round Don’s selfishness but she finally lets go enough to tell him freely what everyone thinks of him. (It’s obviously her speaking freely and yelling at partners colour). It’s no surprise that it harks back to her peignoir the night she prostituted herself. For her it was the ultimate act of independence, made of her own free will, breaking all the rules of conventional female behavior and ultimately ensuring her own freedom from ever having to be dependent on a man (not surprisingly, not everyone else sees it like this).

Megan’s mother’s wearing green in the scene in the apartment where she’s making some very unconventional and flirtatious statements, while Don is all pursed lips and discretion in his establishment blue. And Megan is wearing her blue robe in the closet, because she is now the one who wants to maintain the status quo of her marriage, as opposed to the green babydoll she was wearing a few episodes back, when she found her marriage too constricting.

For me anyway, that reading works consistently enough for it not to be an accident on Janie Bryant’s part.

Jaialaibean

My reading of it is similar: In this episode, that specific teal green seems to be about acts of impulsiveness.

leighanne

Agree with the ideas about blue. Couldn’t help but notice that both Megan and Peggy are in pale blue when they are surprised/caught off-guard for a moment. Megan is caught off guard by her mother’s suggestion of what to wear and Peggy is surprised by Ted’s kiss. Both try to maintain some status quo in their scenes and situations.

right82

She got more than a year, thanks to the time jump between the seasons – “The Other Woman” was set in January 1967 and we’re now in May 1968.

Jaialaibean

Joan’s floral pattern almost directly matches the busy geometric pattern on the airline worker’s cute bra-and-panties set, which was only briefly (ha!) shown, but was in the next scene. That and the facial similarities between the two women tie them together. Also, the streak of bright pink running throughout that episode, and which is also in the floral and geometric patterns, seems to connote women’s being viewed as sex objects (but not necessarily whores this time) … not a stunning observation, I’ll admit, but you’ve got it on Joan (propositioned by Pete), the airline worker (sex with Roger) and Trudy (another object of Pete’s lust). I’m not sure what to think about the similarly colored floral in that scene with Peggy and Abe, except that in that one she’s imagining herself as the object of desire, and the dumpiness of the nightgown, as T&Lo pointed out, is spectacularly ironic.

http://twitter.com/MinaBinaXina MinaBinaXina

Anyone else intrigued by Ted’s tendency to wear Peggy’s old power color?

I ship it. HARD.

http://www.facebook.com/mary.nease Mary Nease

I noticed that too! Maybe he’s destined to be “Mr. Right”?

http://twitter.com/MinaBinaXina MinaBinaXina

I hope so! I’ve always liked that character, and he and Peggy would be awesome together.

SylviaFowler

Peggy doesn’t NEED to be consulted by Don – or anyone else – about the merger. She is NOT a boss.

http://www.tomandlorenzo.com/ Tom and Lorenzo

Missing the point completely.

Lobelia

Since we’re all sticklers here for Mad Men accuracy (and yes, Joan’s hairdo immediately struck me as discordant– I remember when the Farrah cut arrived in the 70s and it was such a THING), I have to say that as a lawyer I couldn’t buy that the SCDP partnership agreement would give one partner the authority to merge the firm without getting anyone else’s consent. I’m used to suspending disbelief about legal developments in TV dramas, but expected a bit more from MM.

http://twitter.com/otterbird otterbird

For all of his being a jerk, I really feel bad for Pete. Remember when he dressed younger than the rest of the men in the office? And he wanted originally to be a creative, not an accounts man. I think he’s given up on any dream except making money now, and it shows in his wardrobe.

dulcinea86

The bar where Don and Ted “merge” is called Taix, in the Echo Park neighborhood of LA, and it is truly fabulous. I nominate it as a TLounge venue.

formerlyAnon

How do you pronounce “Taix?”

dulcinea86

Funny you should ask…everybody I know seems to pronounce it differently, which makes it sort of hard to arrange a gathering there. I say “Tex” because that’s what the staff says, but I’ve definitely heard “Tay,” “Tays,” and “Tax” as well. I’d love to know what a French-speaker would say.

lulubella

If it’s French, it would be pronounced “tay” as in “paix” which is pronounced “pay.”

convivialcoconut

Three women walk into scenes in coats and carrying shopping bags. In all three there’s a realization of dissatisfaction in a relationship, and in the scene where the relationship ends the woman removes her coat. Any meaning or am I just grasping at straws?

http://www.tomandlorenzo.com/ Tom and Lorenzo

You’re noticing a motif. Nicely done.

Olggie

T & Lo – I just wanted to take a minute to thank you for all the work you do on all your posts but especially Mad Style. Your call backs to earlier episodes are brilliant. Your site makes my day!

http://www.facebook.com/TheMaggieKolb Maggie Kolb

Blue and green. It’s everywhere.

VanessaDK

Bob Benson looks like a capitol hill page.

VicD

I was amused to note that Bob Benson was wearing a tie in the Beloit College colors (navy and gold) – “I’m Bob Benson. I’m upstairs in Accounts. Beloit College, Wharton MBA, Secor, Mohawk, Secor, Life Cereal.”

throwaneyeonthis

Can’t get over how Ted in the smoking jacket reminds me so much of Niedermeyer in Animal House.

I especially loved the scenes of Roger at the airport club for Northwest Orient (now defunct and became a really crummy airline before its final demise). I miss networking in airport lounges and club rooms. When I first started doing business travel, you would pop into the Red Carpet Club, use the pay phone (no loud overhead announcements), have a drink and meet other business people doing the same. Got a few dates that way too. Now everybody has their nose in their smartphone and afraid of face to face interaction. Sigh.

Logo Girl

Thanks for naming the airline! That was bugging my not being able to figure it out.

lulubella

OMG awesome Niedermeyer reference. He’s been reminding me of someone for so long and I could not place it. Except Ted is nice (don’t let him hear you say that).

ToniMacAttack

I love how in the scene with Ted, Peggy and Don, Ted’s tie is stripes moving down one way, Don’s tie is stripes moving down the other way, and Peggy’s scarf is a sea of stripes moving both ways. Poor Pegs. Probably a hint that she’s going to be caught between the two men.

not_Bridget

Yes. She’s not just going back under Don’s “control.” Ted will be involved as well. But her “crush on the married boss” relationship with Ted wasn’t all that great, either.

Looking forward to next week’s cacophony of fashions as the two firms begin to blend….

MeiraNiibori

Also, Don’s tie in the scene with Ted & Peggy is the same colors as the one he was wearing when Peggy gave her notice – but in a bolder stripe, with the stripes running the opposite direction.

inchoate

These posts are a highlight of my week — and I’ve learned so much from them; I knew they were deliberately calling back to “The Other Woman” as soon as I saw Joan in that green dress. Thanks so much, T&L!

VanessaDK

Thank you–you even elevate your overall analysis of the episode with this summary: “Don is trying to reverse the actions and decisions of the two women he
respects the most, against their wishes and without consulting them. … it’s all
about Don using people to construct a life around him that makes him
feel better about himself…”

So is he going to go back for Betty next?

http://www.facebook.com/mary.nease Mary Nease

I doubt he respects Betty.

sweetlilvoice

Before I scroll through all the comments, I just want to add–is that a rooster hanging on the wall behind Pete’s head in the shot in the house with Trudy? It might not have been intentional but it reminds me of the scene a few episodes again with young Dick in the whorehouse. “You grew up on a farm right?”

And Pete isn’t the cock of the house anymore….

Thank you (as always) for the excellent post.

Chris

The whole kitchen is decorated with a Rooster theme if you look around. They are all over the kitchen. This is very correct for the period. There are Metlox pieces on the table and they even did a set of dishes called “Red Rooster” perhaps this is a joke on Pete as the Rooster. Or maybe Trudy was really the rooster in that marriage? Betty also has Metlox canisters she took from her house with Don to her new home with Henry. Ironically I think hers are called Happy Village or Peaceful Village maybe?

http://classversussass.com Class Versus Sass

I am in love with Megan’s closet, all except the second hand smoke. Agree, this is WAY better than Betty’s. At least she got a good wardrobe out of Don when their marriage breaks up.

siriuslover

What a beautiful post and such a wonderful complement to Monday’s recap. That last line just tugged at me. I’m staying home from work today and will probably have to watch this episode again (for the 5th time this week).

http://twitter.com/AShinyOConnor A Shiny O’Connor

Peggy’s neck-tie is almost exactly like Joan’s on the green dress in ‘The Other Woman’. Peggy is now the one that’s been bought. Janie’s one smart cookie.

http://www.facebook.com/candice.booth.79 Candice Booth

It kills me but I can’t remember which lady it was, I believe Marie, was wearing a French manicure. I am a huge nail polish gal and yes I love Pinterest nails that ya’ll despise but I normally just go with a straight color. While watching I thought to myself how long the French has been along and I thought it was a little too early in the timeline or maybe Marie being from Quebec she may have had a jump start. It stuck with me and this morning via an ad in a magazine that the French mani was created in the 70’s. Also I may be incredibly wrong.

MilaXX

I don’t wear them (other than the contrast nail), but I love them too.

http://www.facebook.com/candice.booth.79 Candice Booth

Love an accent nail

Glammie

I remember french manicures being huge in the mid-80s, so this does seem early.

missd

I’m not american, so i don’t really know who emerson is, so i didn’t pick up on the ‘something’ joke.

not_Bridget

Ralph Waldo Emerson was a 19th century writer & thinker who is prominently featured in any 19th Century American Literature class. But nobody really reads him for enjoyment. Or even makes movies of his stuff!

Jaialaibean

I read him for enjoyment! Then again, I’m big into the Transcendentalists. He’s not quite as readable as Thoreau, it’s true.

Emerson’s essays, or portions of them, used to be part of the general high school English curriculum, and Peggy would have been vaguely familiar with him. When Ted met Peggy to offer her the job at CGC, he referred to Emerson’s idea of the observer of nature as a “transparent eyeball.” That, oddly, is Ted’s ideal for advertising creative work: coming to the product with a fresh gaze.

http://twitter.com/creeple Alice

You know who else would probably read Emerson for enjoyment? Stan. He also digs poetry.

Synnamin

Ralph Waldo Emerson is a famous 19th century poet. Peggy’s fantasizing about Ted reading anything or “Something” by Emerson. The joke is that the details of the fantasy are both vague (“Something”) and specific (Emerson especially)

http://twitter.com/Rowsella315 Kathy G

I’m working through his Essays currently and he was an American thinker/philosopher and literary figure. Peggy probably didn’t know much about him other than Ted referenced him in an interview with her. She likely took office skills classes in high school rather than an academic track.

missd

i thought the different joan hair had something to do with the out-of-hours secrecy of the meeting. Like they were called in suddenly. Her hair seems the same style, just unpinned. Like she grabbed a blouse, and skirt and rushed in.

Guest

It’s like her fantasizing that Ted is reading Something by William Shakespeare to her.

LKN

Haven’t read all the comments yet–is it possible that black is Joan’s work/power color? She is wearing a black skirt at the beginning when she’s orchestrating an IPO, she wore black one or two episodes ago like a suit of armor after Harry called out her sleeping with Herb to become partner; she wore black at the ends of both season 3 (when she organized SCDP in a hotel room) and season 4 (she and Peggy sharing a cigarette and a moment). I kind of feel like it’s a more sombre and mature version of Peggy’s power yellow. Anyway, interesting to spot when Joan wears black, sort of signaling serious power plays in her work life (at least since the end of season 3).

Also, love the desk chairs in both Pete and Kenny’s office.

filmcricket

She also wore black the day she had the big fight with Lane and fired his secretary for mixing up his flower order. More asserting of power, and taking some of it back from Lane, too.

DogintheParthenon

I can’t figure out what to make of Herb’s wife being dressed in “whore” red; she obviously has not been whored out.

http://twitter.com/erikadprice Erika Dawn Price

Because she’s the apple in the pig’s mouth.

Jaialaibean

THANK YOU! That’s it, of course. I was wondering about that, too.

http://gabyrippling.tumblr.com/ Gaby

Love this connection.

shelley514

I’m wondering about the significance of Peaches wearing red at the dinner with her husband, don, megan, marie. Red is a significant color with respect to Don, but Peaches is insignificant. Anything being said there?

purkoy28

PEACHES IS THE APPLE IN THE PIGS MOUTH, SO SHE LOOKS LIKE A RED APPLE IN THAT DRESS, sorry about the caps

http://twitter.com/rmccarthyjames RMJ

I’m not totally done reading, but I HAD to note: Trudy and Pete’s bed spread is in shades of blue and green. A very unhappy, faithless marital bed.

SJ Alexander

I think it’s quite different, but Megan’s look at dinner reminded me of Betty in Italy with the large “look at me” hair and earrings. Similar purposes, too, to break out of the everyday box of life as Don’s wife.

As an aside, Joan’s hair looks deliberately styled in the “hair down” scene, but it does remind me of when I tease my hair up for an event and then do an updo and take it down that night or the next morning. It gets kind of flippy/weird from being up. Overthinking it, but that produced almost as much of a gasp as seeing Pete come face to face with Trudy’s father.

pop_top

I always find it interesting that when Megan is actively trying to do something, she wears beige.

http://gabyrippling.tumblr.com/ Gaby

Don’s shit-eating grin on the couch in that last scene… ugh.
I love how Ted is wearing a turtleneck under his smoking jacket. Of course.

MilaXX

I like the serious stink eye she gave both of them as she went to type the memo.

http://gabyrippling.tumblr.com/ Gaby

Haha, that series of pictures of her walking back to her office/typewrite could each just be captioned: What.
The.
Fuck.

HobbitGirl

AND Peggy’s purple dress with the rounded collar and neck scarf really echoes Joan’s green dress with the rounded collar and neck scarf. Both made an attempt at a better life for themselves, and both are finding out those dreams were largely illusory.

OneBonBonIsPoison

I love how when Peggy left SCDP, she was wearing a very non-juvenile (by Peggy standards) dress – no peter pan collar, no neck-bow (though there is a bow at the waist). When she’s starting to get comfortable (too comfortable? 😉 with a boss who admires and respects her, and who sees her as an equal and not as an uppity girl, same thing – only that tiny bow belt at the waist, but otherwise that light blue dress is one of the least fussy things we’ve seen her in. Then, when she’s sucked back in, BOOM – peter pan collar and pussy bow. Poor Pegs.

http://twitter.com/Rowsella315 Kathy G

I found it interesting that the men’s (Don and Ted) ties were very compatible and her scarf had some stripes in it but they were all in a mixed up/twisted around pattern.

http://twitter.com/TMamBo Therese Bohn

Seeing Peggy’s powder blue dress in the Ted scene made me think “Doubleknit Polyester has ARRIVED” — Ugh! To be fair, it’s a great looking dress on her, but it just screams to me the ugly throwaway polyesters of a million ’70’s housewives everywhere — and that painful floral housecoat! No Peggy, No! You are a suburban Saturday queen there! (Then again, to her credit, if I had just had my place painted, I’d wear the ugliest thing I owned so if it got stained I wouldn’t care…)

Meg

Throughout the episode the men’s ties are on on a decline. (Save those who have less financial concern – Ted’s partner in an ascot, Bert in a bow tie and Roger stripeless. The first ill and requiring a buy out, Bert in the old guard and Roger recently inheriting all of his family money.) In the final scene you screenshot Don’s tie is on an incline while Ted’s stays downward. I’d have to rematch to not all of the ties but this is significant. My finance father taught me to distrust men in declining ties – especially in regard to money. Also, patterns and bow ties indicate independent thinkers.

Regarding women’s underpinnings: the panty girdle must be on the way out. When my mom was with PanAm in the mid sixties she was required to wear a panty girdle under her uniform. She said the European ‘girls’ thought they were the most stupid American things ever.

Finally, Joan’s hair does chafe. Until the 70s women would set their hair twice a week. Mom can still set hers on rollers in 10 mins flat. Joan’s undone hairstyle looks like Christina H just wore one of her own (not very good) falls for the scene.

MartyBellerMask

I have been scrolling through all of the comments to see if anyone else noticed the neckties too!!

I however didn’t think about “incline” vs “decline”. That kind of changes things. There are actually are some horizontal stripes but I didn’t pay much attention. Might actually have to watch a 3rd time.

But here’s what I did notice: That final scene, Ted’s tie is decline, Don’s is incline– and Peggy’s scarf stripes are going in all directions. So maybe simply she represents the merger, or if your theory is correct, then she is all over the place and Don is on the upswing, Ted going down.

Unfortunately, I kind of want to see Don crash and burn. Is that bad?

Meg

No because he is an antihero. The lead as loser – like pages torn from Day of the Locusts or anything Camus.
But the ties! The neckties were killing me! They are mirrors to what the men are feeling internally. For Don, his wife is whoring it up for him again, he gets excited with new ventures, he’s on a high with the disruption of status quo.

roble ridge

The scene when Pete finds out that Don fired Jaguar and yells at Don from the stairs and the SCDP employees gather around. Did anybody catch a glimpse of a woman wearing purple at the top of the stairs? I thought it was interesting that it was the same shade of purple that Joan wore when she posed for the partner photos in the first episode of this season.

siriuslover

I forgot to say that the prostitutes outfit (the one that was with Pete) looked like the outfit of the Thrall (I think that was the episode) in Star Trek. A different color, for sure, but it was definitely Star Trekky to me.

NoveltyRocker

Love the style of Megan’s dress at dinner but am I the only one who’s eyes went wide over how short that hemline was? Especially seeing it compared with her auditioning dress here. I remember thinking her auditioning dress was one of the first short a-lines worn on the show and its length jumping out at me because of the longer hemlines we’re used to seeing but also how tasteful and not a big deal it was by today’s standards. That CFM dress however, is just impractically short by any decade’s standards. She must have been sitting on undies alone throughout dinner (definitely no shorts under there as Don demonstrated later that evening…).

camdiggidy

I have a dress of my mother’s that she sewed herself around this time and it’s DEFINITELY that short. I love wearing it, but not on days I have to ride the subway!

NoveltyRocker

Yikes! I just do not have the balls.

purkoy28

well if u did, they would hang out of that super short dress : )

NoveltyRocker

Ha! Balls out, indeed.

judybrowni

You apparently haven’t seen what girls now wear out as dresses to clubs, which make minis look like granny skirts.

The world is their gynecologist.

halleygee

I’ve been drooling over Megan’s style this season, but I especially love her in the elevator scene.

Your recaps are truly amazing TLo!

lorem_ipsum

“Don is trying to reverse the actions and decisions of the two women he respects the most, against their wishes and without consulting them… it’s all about Don using people to construct a life around him that makes him feel better about himself, with virtually no thought as to how the people around him feel.”

I know this isn’t particularly about style, so I may be threadjacking a bit, but this thought almost made me breathless with joy. This, to me, is the reason for the show. And the reason that Don remains interesting to me. He is NEVER in reality. He’s always trying to create his own reality, and failing to understand what the difference between the two is.

Style-wise, I’m a bit bummed that we didn’t get to touch on the brothel scene. Obviously it has little to say about the characters, but the outfits still gave me a little buzz, especially since we’ve seen a pretty good number of brothels and their prostitutes in different decades on the show. This one seemed extremely counter-culture-y to me, especially for somewhere that people like Pete and his father in law would frequent. Am I wrong? Had the drugged, highly contrasted, super colored world infiltrated everything but offices by then?

MilaXX

Good point about Don, but man did he piss me off this week.

judybrowni

Read The Happy Hooker for the scene of the late ’60s brothel/party house, and see Hollander in her go-go boots.

Girl_With_a_Pearl

The first thing Don asks Peggy to do is to type something. Yes, she’s moved up in advertising, but it’s all a step backwards career-wise.

decormaven

No, that was a good thing. That is the announcement that will introduce the new agency to the world. I’m surprised Don didn’t draft it himself. He trusts Peggy implicitly.

http://twitter.com/PhDKnitter marlie

I agree with @decormaven. It’s not meant to be a demeaning task, but rather as a senior copy editor (or whatever her title is), I would guess that she might have to take on some of the PR-related responsibilities. Putting out a press release – especially when she’s essentially given free rein to write whatever she wants – seems like it would go with a senior-level position.

3hares

But since he’s still essentially telling her to type what he wants to say, and that it’s specifically Don giving her the order rather than Ted, it is a pretty neat way of showing how Don’s just carelessly put her in that position again.

theotherTLO

Yes, I was bothered by this too. Not that Peggy was given the task of working on the press release, but that Don commanded her to do it. He fell so easily back into that position without acknowledging that she had changed. Not that surprising for Don, but annoying

pollatadana

And Joan’s emerald dress also calls back to the emerald Herb gave her!

CatherineRhodes

Green = sex = money

lorem_ipsum

One more thought—Joan’s STILL wearing that circle broach. Any chance this is a brick-in-your-face signal that no matter how hard she works for it, she’s never going up but still around in circles, rather than when she wore her pen necklace, which pointed vertically to her believing she could continue to achieve higher and higher?

http://twitter.com/AShinyOConnor A Shiny O’Connor

Please Jesus, let me not be right that Joan is going to sleep with Pete. They were oddly allied in this ep, and he was making shapes at her in blue and green. And she seemed flattered. Ugh.

Not applicable

i’m late to the party today. did anyone mention that Ted is wearing a lot of gold in this episode (ie: peggy’s power color?) cuz, hahhahahaha love it- they are so hooking up.

PowerfulBusiness

This show is so brilliant in that I always envisioned Peggy and Don reuniting to be a moment on their own terms. Either Don wooing her back to SCDP with a better position than her one at CGC, or them down the line opening their own business. It never, ever occurred to me that she could be back under Don’s thumb before she knew it, in almost the same position she was when she left – as witnessed by the purple dress. I always thought their reunion would be a happy moment, not a crushingly confusing and circular one as we are witnessing. Bless Mad Men. I can’t outsmart you.

EEKstl

Brilliant, TLo. Just Brilliant. There was some old TV ad for some product I can’t recall where there was a kids voiceover saying “Yellow and blue make GREEN!” Now I’ll always think “Blue and Green make ADULTERY!”

http://twitter.com/creeple Alice

Ziploc bags!! I still think it at the grocery store when I need to get them.

http://twitter.com/MistopherChelch Chris Melchiors

Bear with me because it’s a bit of a stretch, but did Megan’s metallic dinner dress remind you at all of Sally’s super mod and super short (for her anyway) metallic dress she wore last season in “At the Codfish Ball?” Truthfully the dresses are quite different but I think the styles, colors, and motives behind the dresses were similar enough to evoke a connection.

And by connection, I certainly don’t mean an Electra complex, but more that the two dresses were meant to catch Don’s attention: Sally’s to signify she was entering womanhood and Megan’s to reaffirm Don’s sexual attraction. Both dresses worked, but not in the way either wearer intended. Sally made her entrance but wasn’t allowed to wear make-up or her gogo boots, which is no great sin in and of itself (would you let YOUR daughter wear that in front of Roger Sterling?), but thanks to the acting prowess of Jon Hamm, it seemed to me Don’s reaction to Megan’s dress was still one of “Yes I want to bang my wife, but I hate that she’s wearing this in public,” which harkens all the way back to the time Betty bought a bikini and Don called her desperate. I’d actually argue his post-dinner lust for Megan had more to do with claiming his “property” after Herb’s comments about Megan’s legs and celebrating his dick move of resigning the Jaguar account than actual attraction to Megan (contrast his bedside manner here with how he was in the cab after the impromptu Heinz pitch).

Poor Megan, girl you had no idea what you were getting yourself into. Then again, I’m sure she’ll get to retain the clothes and the apartment in the divorce.

Yes! We even still had those in the 80s, and they looked so old fashioned next to Trapper Keepers.

kentiesgirl

I just had to scroll down before I even read the whole thing and say a huge thank you re: the hairstyle. It looked so seventies/very early eighties to me and I would never had dared to write that on this board with the accuracy police lurking (that’s a joke everyone) without the TLo stamp of approval. I watched this one back to back ’cause it was so good but that hair was driving me nuts, haha. Thanks for the research (and calling out the pot smoking a few episodes ago). It’s a great feeling to have these things confirmed. Muah! Love these posts so much

judybrowni

I agree: the flips were tighter and smoother in the ’60s, mine fell down in a matter of hours (I hated hairspray), so I couldn’t wear one in real life.

However, could be Joan’s is flopping at the end of a long weekend: she’s wearing a blouse you’d never see her in at the office (weekend casual).

purkoy28

the style was popular in europe, the loose flips and waves around that time, but it did look a little too 70s

kentiesgirl

I feel like the just got the partnership Joan dress and the last Peggy dress are almost the same yet in different colors? Thoughts? Maybe Peggy being let down by Don like Joan was in instances where he thought he was helping them? Also I had to note the Brooch switching sides from confidant!Joan to angry!Joan.

MartyBellerMask

Ooh! Good catch! I will have to try to keep an eye on her brooch.

http://twitter.com/VersatileChef The Versatile Chef

I KNOW THAT BAR! It’s “The Buggy Whip” on La Tijera BLVD in LA. Believe me, the set decorators didn’t have to do much work to change the decor. Going to that place is like stepping back through time. I always order a Manhattan.

CatherineRhodes

I always drive by that place on the way to the airport. I’ll stop in next time — thanks for the tip.

http://twitter.com/VersatileChef The Versatile Chef

They make a great old school Green Goddess salad, table side. On weekend nights they have a piano guy that’s…well….all I can think of is the Bill Murray lounge singer character on the old SNL. Hilarious.

CatherineRhodes

I’m intrigued. I may need to make a special trip. Did you ever go to the Dresden Room in Los Feliz and see Marty and Elaine?

dulcinea86

I’m pretty sure the bar is Taix on Sunset Blvd (down to the funny brass pot hanging on the fireplace mantel), but it’s just a testament to LA that there are so many surviving bars/restaurants from the era with a similar look. Tam O’Shanter in Glendale is another great one.

http://twitter.com/VersatileChef The Versatile Chef

You know what – I think you’re right about Taix now that I think about it. Haven’t been there in a while. Even longer for the Tam O’Shanter. Another old(er) school fave place is Musso & Frank.

ideated_eyot

‘Love Is Blue'; sex is green.

CatherineRhodes

Interesting.

Try: green = sex = prostitution = money = green

kentiesgirl

Also that bar totally made me think of the Holiday Inn(?) bar in Blues Brothers where some of the band is playing for a crowd of three in pink velvet suits. Ha! Your quote captures that so perfectly: “That bar is spectacular – and PERFECTLY of its time. This is what a
million cheap lounges in the ’70s would try (and fail) to recreate.”

Becky

The jarring thing me and Joan’s hairstyle is the fact that she’s in those Johnny Walker Black commercials during the show (which is weird to begin with). But in every other scene of the show, he hair was vastly different from the commercial. For this scene, it looked like she changed out of the Johnny Walker dress and into this fussy shirt, and didn’t have time to redo her hair.

120Marie

TLo, What about the scene in the whorehouse? Pete’s girl in green… and the animal-print bra on his father-in-law’s?

CatherineRhodes

What is the symbolism regarding one person being undressed (bathrobe or pajamas) or in bare feet in the Draper household? Is it always about unequal power relationships?

http://twitter.com/crossoverman Keith Gow

Actually, “The Other Woman” was set in January 1967 and this episode took place in May 1968. So Peggy was out of SCDP for nearly a year and a half.

judybrowni

Minor quibble guys: but “E. J. Korvette, also known as Korvette’s, was an American chain of discount department stores, founded in 1948 inNew York City. It is notable as one of the first department stores to challenge the suggested retail price provisions ofanti-discounting statutes”

Woolworth’s was an old-fashioned “dime store” (still known as that in the early ’60s, although the dime pricing had been hit by inflation long ago.)

But you’re right: neither was a Bonwit Teller.

http://www.facebook.com/julia.sayre.9 Julia Sayre

I think it’s notable that in the scene where Joan shouts out Don and speaks openly about her prostitution, she’s covered in gold. Gold broach, gold buttons, big gold earrings, and a GIGANTIC gold bracelet. I loved the way her rage was punctuated by the sound of the gold charms on her bracelet clinking as she moved. I feel like that speaks to her newly acquired wealth, and the freedom it bought her. She doesn’t rely on men for money anymore, so now, FINALLY, she can talk back to them.

MisScarlett

Yes!! I noticed the jingle of the bracelet too. I like your interpretation!

http://twitter.com/savedlatin allie

And of course, metallics symbolize wealth on the show. Remember how Joan’s Mary Kay pal was impressed by all the gold bling she was wearing?

Rebecca Jay

Handyman Abe and Tighty-Whitie Abe are my current fantasy fodder.

(Stan got stashed back in the nightstand .. at least for this week).

http://twitter.com/laurarodgers Laura Rodgers

They put Joan in stuff aggressively different from her usual office wear when they’re trying to underline her going in when she wouldn’t normally be at work. The pants for the “Shut the Door” caper, the low-cut cocktail dress she paraded in with her son, and now her way-too-casual-for-an-SCDP-partner blouse while working on a day off.

Also, Megan pairs her up-to-the-minute-mod dress with fairly conservative shoes, and she’s wearing it to please Don. She already knows Don’s opinion on trendy boots, when worn to dinner with metallic dresses…

It’s interesting how emerald green — i.e. the 2013 Pantone Colour of the Year —is featuring so prominently in a show set in 1968.

And YES to to the other commenter who pointed out that Megan is wearing a “sad marriage” bathrobe when she talks about her marriage going south.

Also, for whoever made the Mustard Yellow = Team Peggy connection, Ken’s also a big fan of mustard yellow. And was totally an early-round draft to Team Peggy.

http://twitter.com/PolinaShafran Polina Shafran

When I saw the first scene of this episode with Joan wearing this blouse and her hair is down, both men not dressed up as they usually would at the office it created some kind of a feeling that this is a secret and unplanned private meeting. That’s why casual dresses and hairstyle. Perhaps Joan and Pete were called from their homes to come to this meeting. I could be wrong, but this is the feeling I got from Joan’s hair and blouse.

purkoy28

i thought that joans flowery blouse and losse hair, made her look ultra feminine, emphasizing she is a woman equal to the men with her smarts and success.

purkoy28

the chevy vega is the car they win at chevy… so says the internet

purkoy28

and of course petes in green when talking about money on the opening scene.

formerlyAnon

Thank-you forever for that link!

Pam Artese

Remember that herb gave Joan an emerald as a gift!, GREEN.

Orange Girl

Wonderful insights as always, but I cannot believe you guys didn’t even include one screen shot of Stan in Don’s office while they learn about the new car! His clothes are tighter than my yoga pants at nine months pregnant. Also, in both of Abe’s scenes, he’s dressed not even like a little boy, but a toddler. (Not that I mind seeing him in overalls without a shirt.)

gracedarling

Two quick observations about the dressed/undressed balance of power:

1) Rosen might be ‘powerless’ in this scenario, but his dressing gown, with its warm checks, and the general domesticity of his look tie him much more to the house than Don’s blue does. It’s notable in a scene where he comes in, jokes, and flirts with the women. He might not have Don’s obvious sex appeal, but he does seem generally comfortable with himself, which creates its own feel of intimacy in this scene.

2) The dressed/undressed dynamic also plays out with Peggy and Abe in that first scene – you could put her outfit on Stan and he would look perfectly comfortable. She’s wearing the pants, he’s half-naked… never has the untraditional nature of their relationship been presented in a way that’s so on the nose.

lulubella

Peggy’s striped jacket reminded me of a fireman’s coat – something about being more in control than Abe. Also with the potential of putting out that looming electrical fire he’s about to ignite!

lulubella

Good catch on the eggplant dress, which I love. In my mind I was writing the press release after the episode, so I’m glad to see someone took a stab.

Sweetvegan

First, love, love, love these Mad Style posts!!! Thank you!!!

“Don is trying to reverse the actions and decisions of the two women he respects the most, against their wishes and without consulting them.” With regard to Joan, yes, I agree. But he’s taken a different approach with Peggy in this episode, at least on the surface. He’s learned from the time when SCDP first formed, and Don just assumed that Peggy would go with him. In this episode, he tells Peggy that he did it wrong the first time. He tells her that she can decide whether to go to the newly merged firm. She replies, “I just bought an apartment,” which is her way of saying she has no choice – she can’t afford to quit and look for a new job.

http://www.tomandlorenzo.com/ Tom and Lorenzo

That’s just it: his approach is only different on the surface. He never asked her how she thought about it. He just assumed she’d be as thrilled as he is. It’s like him using “We” in a sentence and thinking it solves his self-absorption problem. Any change in Don is always a surface change; never addressing the underlying issue.

http://twitter.com/PhDKnitter marlie

THIS. His plans to rush in and save the day cause more problems, and are further evidence that he lacks the self awareness to see the impact that his actions have on the people around him. He’s not saving the day; he’s making things worse.

theotherTLO

TLo, also just have to say, these Mad Men posts make me so, so very happy. Thank you for the thought and effort you put into them. I’m the other TLO b/c of my initials, but I could never come up with this stuff!

3hares

But I think Don must know that he’s not really giving her a choice, doesn’t he? Even if Peggy decided to leave Don would have undone her choice by making himself her boss again. If she wants to get away from him she has to quit again.

lilyvonschtupp

Of all the great Mad Styles I’ve read this is the one where I caught onto every point that you guys talked about:

The sort of repeat dressing of:

Joan in green

Peggy in purple

Megan in a metallic (even though that gold dress was SMOKIN!!!)

The Boys in yellow ties

and Ted – aka Lieutenant Mustard

Plus I remembered Joan’s hair from her night on the town. Her recent style would have been accurate if they straightened it.

lilyvonschtupp

One more thing that bothers me: Ted was reading Something in Peggy’s paint-fumed fantasy

But what was Abe reading in reality?

darmiamia

I thought that Megans metallic dress was a direct callback to her audition dress, in that it was in an episode that emphasized what women at that time had to do to gain power (i.e prostitution- blatantly with Joan and subtly with Megan). So her metallic dress signals her attempt to use sex to draw Don in just as the metallic dress she wore to her audition was used to interest the casting people

Maria Gabriella Dutari

Ted is making me love Kevin Rahm. I don’t know how I failed to notice that he looks like James Spader’s happy brother.

Eric827

I keep having to remind myself that he isn’t James Spader.

http://twitter.com/PhDKnitter marlie

When Trudy got out of bed and put on her robe, she might as well have said “you can look, but don’t touch.” Otherwise, another stellar analysis, particularly with the callbacks to Joan’s and Peggy’s (and even Megan’s) previous clothes and what they mean for each woman’s career.

buddy100

Trudy’s robe, with its enormous, billowing, deep pink sleeves and gold trim, is essentially a toned-down version of a princess dress from a fairytale. A great choice of costuming. Trudy is absolutely determined to have her fantasy life. And with her big powerful daddy at her side, it’s guaranteed. Much as I love the character, I give props to Janie Bryant for picking out an outfit that so well symbolizes Pete’s frustration with her perceived superficiality.

LauraAgain

Thoughts …

Joan’s green dress in her “dressing down” scene with Don immediately made me think of money. $$$. The rattling of the charm bracelet was coins. With the story lines of SCDP going public, losing and gaining accounts, and combining two small firms to make one big one (and add millions of dollars in revenue) I was seeing dollar signs all over the place.

Did anyone else think Frank from CGC looks just like Duck?

When I first saw Trudy’s coat I thought it was solid white, and made me think “Princess”, “Purity” and “Innocence”. Not that she is really any of those, but SHE thinks she is, and dresses as such. Plus, with Pete giving her the nasty news about Daddy, she practically HAD to be dressed like a virgin. Funny, she didn’t seem too surprised about her father; just angry that Pete would try to ruin her adulation with her father.

Eric827

I think she was also angry at the revelation that Pete was in a whorehouse.

purkoy28

i fi were pete i would say that i was there for buisnsess with colleagues, but not partaking. cause really only the dad in law was caught red handed

purkoy28

YES!!!! Lol. I forgot about that, I thought it was Duck at first for a sec, then I realized….. but u r so right, lol : )

purkoy28

its funny how in the opening scene pete, joan and burt refer to don as the ” secondary problem” even they reconize his big babyness, lol.

purkoy28

dons such a sleeze, its so sneaky the way he phrases the question to dr rosen about how long his sons in town… what he really was asking is ” when can i go sneak into ur house to f*%k ur wife? “

purkoy28

I was thinking that Burt always wears bowties… and Harry used to always wear them too in the first seasons. I wonder if that was meant to tie him with Burt since he ended up follwing Burts path. Remember harry said this season ” u were me” to Burt. Just a thought.

purkoy28

Bob wasnt the only brown noser in that whore house ; )

rachel schiff

The scene with Roger in bed with Daisy really reminded me of the first time we saw Roger in a hotel room with Joan, where Joan is putting on her red dress and trying to leave, and Roger pulls her back into bed. In this episode the scene with Roger and Daisy came right after we see Joan in that meeting with Roger and Pete, her role having changed so much. And then there’s the Herb/Jaguar theme that keeps pulling her back into the powerless woman/prostitute feeling, every time she thinks she’s moving beyond it.

Cuddlebunny

Victory is mine.

Dlou

Has anyone mentioned how much Roger’s new trolley dolley looks like Joan? It wasn’t until I saw her bust that I realized it wasn’t her. . .there is some connection between them still, if only in his (erotic) mind.

Daniel

Don’t you think the opening scene with Joan’s hair down was probably a Saturday in the office? The day before Mother’s Day, and Pete looks pretty casual in that cardigan as well.

Eric827

The post specifically says that it was a Saturday.

Carly Price

Ken and Pete were with Herb when he made the initial request to spend an evening with Joan. He also commented to Roger that he did not want to be a partner, because he knew what it involved. So he did know about Joan, he put 2+2 together.

eocasey

Could Megan be wearing Don’s blue bathrobe–the one that Betty found his desk key in? If not, it certainly looks similar…

Liza Ortiz

Joan and Peggy are the only women Don Draper loves, in his own way

leah

Does anyone know what’s the significance of the navy polka-dot dress Joan wears right at the end of the episode? Isn’t it the same dress she wore speaking to Layne just before he died?

librarygrrl64

Oh, that bar!!!! I’m so glad you got a wide shot if it. I actually gasped when they showed it. I also loved the “bubble” telephone booths in the airport lounge.

musicandmochi

I wondered at how purple meant heartbreak for Joan. Then Megan started wearing it around Don. Now Peggy is wearing it during two crucial scenes with Don as well…

http://www.facebook.com/mythologicality DC Sheehan

Want that double breasted mustard jacket. So beautiful.

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=149100065 Virginia McMurdo

Perry Como!! Exactly what I thought of Ted.

maya s

Ted’s colors are usually golden browns and yellows – doesn’t that call back to Peggy’s old career color?

I also noticed that ever since Trudy kicked Pete out her clothes were completely pattern-less, all solid colors. I took it as a good sign, but maybe just cuz i think all those buzzing patterns are ugly.. i thought it was a new dawn for her! :-

PS – if I had Joan’s hair, that aquamarine color and all its hues would be all I’d wear, all the time